RESTAURANT REVIEW : Best of the <i> Wurst</i> : From the homemade sauerkraut to the tender pot roast, this is the place for real German cooking.

German cooking may not be ideally suited to the climate or lifestyle here in Southern Cali fornia, and I tend to run into a stone wall when I try to interest my friends in going out for a plate of wurst. But there’s no denying the hearty flavors and festive ambience of a good German place are hard to resist. Particularly when it’s as good as the German Place.

The German Place Restaurant & Deli is a curious little Newhall establishment in a rustic wooden building on a quiet stretch of Lyons Avenue. It’s actually a two-pronged operation, just as the name implies. It’s operated by the Klett family: Herr Klett runs the deli; Frau Klett does most of the cooking in the restaurant.

On the deli side, you can get sandwiches and terrific German foodstuffs: four different types of bratwurst, earthy breads in 10-pound loaves trucked in from Canada--even quark , a bland white cheese with the texture of sour cream that Germans are addicted to. The restaurant side is a small, homey dining area, the cozy dimness brightened by a Paulaner Brau sign. And despite pure-bred Americana such as twirling ceiling fans and glass tabletops, it looks quite like any restaurant you’d find in small-town Germany today.

In other words, it’s not terribly heavy on the Germanic motifs: nobody in lederhosen, no bank of massed pottery beer steins. The pinkish brown walls may be adorned with antlers, and you can hear the faint sound of accordion music, but that’s about as Teutonic as it gets.

But if the decor doesn’t transport you, Frau Klett’s cooking surely will. Nothing is served from a steam table in this restaurant--that great failing of our German restaurants--and everything has a true homemade flavor. This is about the best German food I can recall eating in Southern California.

Just come hungry. I said, this is real German cooking.

If you show up for lunch, you’ll be handed a small paper menu listing short orders such as bratwurst, knackwurst and Kassler rippchen (fried smoked pork loin). They all come with a choice of soup or salad, plus potato.

At night, it works differently. The menu is brought directly to the table in the form of a large blackboard full of the rustic, savory dishes you might encounter in a German farmhouse. Furthermore, all these dishes come with soup, salad and two potato choices, one of them invariably hot German potato salad flecked with bacon. Himmel !

Before digging into your soup, which could be anything from Bavarian cream soup sharply punctuated with freshly grated horseradish to a delicate tomato broth with tiny veal meatballs (call it German sopa de albondigas ), check out the beer list. I’ve sampled Oktoberfest brews such as the yeasty, amber colored Tanzelfest, the hearty Weihenstephan (from one of the world’s two oldest breweries, incidentally), great Pilseners such as Urquell and echt- German favorites like Aktien. They are all terrific.

That will be followed by a simple but tasty green salad with a creamy vinaigrette. Then come the heavy-hitter dishes. The best of these main courses has to be zweibelbraten , a very brown, very tender pot roast with slightly caramelized onions all around. It’s one of the great rustic dishes of Europe, and you’ll dream about it for days.

For purists, Frau Klett makes a mean, practically greaseless schnitzel, but for those concerned about eating red meat, there is also one made from pounded chicken breast, which she serves with an unctuous mushroom gravy. Sauerbraten is sort of pot roast made with beef that has been soaking, usually for a few days, in a sour marinade. Frau Klett’s version might stir controversy because it’s only mildly sour, but no one can say that this meat isn’t very tender, or that her thick brown gravy wouldn’t keep you warm in winter.

You really don’t have to order carefully at German Place because everything seems to be great.

There’s a good solid pork roast, the famous dish known as jagerschnitzel (breaded pork topped with that creamy mushroom sauce), even cabbage rolls drenched in tomato gravy.

And then there are glorious cabbage sides. I want to put in a word for the sauerkraut--taste it and you’ll be struck by how little it resembles any commercial sauerkraut.

I’d even be tempted to call this dish California cuisine, if that would help persuade my friends to join me for plate of wurst.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: The German Place Restaurant & Deli, 23115 Lyons Ave., Newhall.

Suggested dishes: Zweibelbraten , $13.95; cabbage rolls, $12.95; pork roast, $13.95; sauerbraten, $14.95.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Price: Dinner for two, $28 to $40. MasterCard and Visa. Parking in rear lot. Beer and wine only.

Call: (805) 255-9790.