RESTAURANT REVIEW : The Taste of Americana at Annie’s

Jake & Annie’s, An American Cafe, is Gerri Gilliland’s third restaurant on Santa Monica’s Main Street. Halfway between the original Gilliland’s and her Mexican restaurant, Lula’s, Jake & Annie’s replaced the darkly lit Merlin McFly’s.

The names come from a restaurant that was once where Lula’s is now--a little cafe/bar that opened in 1934 and was owned by Jake and Annie Diersdorff, who just happened to be the parents of a part-owner in Gilliland’s enterprises.

Today, Jake & Annie’s is a bright corner bar-and-grill whose simple design and high ceilings allow the building’s original older character to surface. Fine seaside light pours through wide windows, bounces off scoured copper pots and all the gleaming glass and brass at the bar. Gone is Merlin McFly’s cavelike atmosphere.

On a Saturday night, Jake & Annie’s is packed with a happy Westside crowd that includes adult family members, dates and groups of friends with sunburned noses. Like other Gilliland restaurants, this one is an adult food-world synonym for “Have a Nice Day.” There’s nary a surly waiter in sight, only cheerful professionals. Those of us accustomed to the glacial demeanor of most maitre d’s will be pleasantly thawed by the welcome at Jake & Annie’s front desk.

The menu promises “traditional American cuisine.” The fried chicken, we read, is from Alabama; the crab cakes from Maryland. It promises welcome relief from the deluge of Italian food we’ve been eating in most restaurants. We order up. We eat. We remember what American food is like.

It’s the buttermilk fried onion rings that remind us. Thickly breaded, fried to an irresistible dark brown, served with a sweet homemade ketchup, they’re crunchy and greasy enough to be addictive. Just as French food is known for its butter and herbs, and Italian food is known for olive oil and garlic, we remember that American food is too often characterized by deep fat and sugar.

Sugar is notably present in many dishes: a mixed green salad with chunks of blue cheese has whole, sweet honey-glazed pecans and a sweet cranberry-port vinaigrette. I find it hard to believe that the sweetness in the Cheddar cheese, chard and onion tart comes exclusively from the caramelized onions. Even the good liver and onions comes with sugary applewood-smoked bacon. And this is all before dessert--example after lavish example of rococo Americana: Lady Baltimore cake, chocolate and peanut butter pie, mountainous berry cobblers.

Even given the richness and sweetness of much of the food, it is possible to have a good meal as well as a pleasant time at Jake & Annie’s. Portions are generous, plates are colorful, and everyone’s bound to find something that reminds them of childhood. Or at least a cross-country road trip.

The “Alabama” fried chicken is crisp, well-seasoned and wonderfully juicy. I loved the restaurant’s hoppin’ John, a mix of black-eyed peas, okra, fresh corn-off-the-cob and bacon. But, as they say in Alabama, there’s nothing so boring as cold mashed potatoes--and I wished mine had been thoroughly heated before being plopped on the plate.

Marinated skirt steak is tender and full of flavor. The accompanying fried green tomatoes, breaded in cornmeal and pan-fried, remind me of that time every summer when my tomatoes stubbornly refuse to ripen. Spoon bread is individually cooked, thus obviating the need for a spoon; it’s also too busy with corn and peppers and onion to allow the deep pleasures of the real thing, which should be custardy and souffle-like.

Daily specials augment the menu: Soft-shell crabs were fried to death and served with tartar sauce; grilled salmon had a refreshing cucumber and champagne relish, but the fish itself was overcooked.

The contemporary trend in American food is also represented here: Perhaps the least inspired dish I sampled--a New Jersey specialty, according to the menu--was penne with eggplant, tomatoes and dull Italian sausage. Not a dish any upstanding New Jerseyite would claim as his own.

* Jake & Annie’s, 2700 Main St., Santa Monica, (310) 452-1734. Lunch Wednesday through Friday, brunch Saturday and Sunday, dinner daily. American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $27-$56.