RESTAURANT REVIEW : Comfortable Dining at Zack’s Table

Zack’s in Redondo Beach is a neo Mom ‘n’ Pop place in the upscale mini-mall called Nob Hill Plaza on PCH. Owned by Greg Gevurtz (executive chef at Hal’s in Venice) and his wife Leslie, Zack’s offers home cookin’ for the ‘90s: This means the halibut can come with black Japonica rice, the chicken breast with red beans and ham hock gravy, the onion rings with ancho chile barbecue sauce. But hey, loosen up, get real, this is the ‘90s; these people really are Mom ‘n’ Pop--just check the menu: “ IT’S A GIRL!!! “ says a box. “ Cole Lauren 6 lbs., 13 oz. “ In fact, that’s her: tiny, dark-haired, red-in-the-face, bouncing in her mother’s arms and greeting us with wide-eyed infant’s surprise.

The restaurant itself is named for the (now-displaced) family cat.

Inside, much cheerful attention has been paid to details: Table tops are abstract tile mosaics, the walls are soothing water-blues and celery greens and hung with original art. The slightly sophisticated yet casual atmosphere seems more like something you’d find in the Bay Area than the South Bay.

Zack’s is meant to be an all-occasion haunt, at once dinner house, bar, snack stop, weekend brunch destination. A limited late afternoon menu pays homage to today’s work options: flexed schedules, home workers, artists, writers, those self- or unemployed and anyone else coming up for air and hungry after 2:30 p.m. The owners want people to stop in, if only for a big bowl of beer-battered, unapologetically greasy and delicious onion rings and a draft beer (Sierra Nevada’s on tap). The dinner crowd is casual, convivial--folks who might enjoy a decent bottle of wine with their meals.

Gevurtz’s menus change weekly and bring to Redondo Beach a welcome relief from the steady diet of pizza and pasta now offered in most restaurants of this size and price range. There’s no pizza at all, in fact, and only the occasional pasta, which might well be unusual. (This week’s appetizer ravioli, for example, are appropriately autumnal, chewy handmade discs filled with spicy roasted pumpkin and tossed in sage butter.) Some weeks’ offerings are more inspired than others, some menu items more fully realized. Still, the food is basically sound, often interesting, definitely worth trying.

*

Appetizers include bar foods--fries and those tempting onion rings--and one to three of the chef’s original creations. One week there are crisp fried salmon cakes with a tartar sauce deepened by yellow peppers. Another week there are duck won-tons with a smooth, elusively fragrant peach sauce. Not every component of every dish works equally well. A brochette of good grilled shrimp, for example, sits on a black bean cake, a weird bland little pad with no discernible virtues.

The Caesar salad, rated one of L.A.’s 10 best according to the menu, is indeed a good crisp, clean version: whole pale inner leaves of romaine dressed with a good balance of anchovy, garlic, lemon.

One could make a dinner of hearty soups here. Salt-it-yourself, thick corn chowder, a fugue of blandness, is kicked into gear by a dollop of juicy avocado salsa. A bland three-bean soup with ham hocks improves with both salt and assistance from the Tabasco bottle.

Some entrees include vegetables, some don’t. Grilled items, while gently handled, have that pronounced charred taste some refer to as “good grilled flavor.” I myself prefer a lighter whiff of char--but this is a small complaint. Grilled chicken, with excellent French fries, is juicy, tender, as is the grilled salmon, served alongside basmati rice flecked with carrot cubes, sunflower seeds and thyme.

Whole-wheat dressing inside the good grilled pork chop has a lovely hint of cinnamon--and the spoonbread with it is almost excellent. Very ordinary halibut remains unredeemed by a light citrus ginger sauce, but who can resist the “black” rice with roasted almonds? (It’s not really black, but more the color of kidney beans.)

Desserts rotate weekly. The favorite so far? Three small scoops of an intense, dense, lightly sweetened chocolate mousse. Insomniac friends, wishing for more desserts without caffeine in the form of coffee or chocolate, were pleased with a superb, custardy bread pudding with caramelized apples.

* Zack’s, 800 Pacific Coast Highway, No. 9, Redondo Beach, (310) 316-1081. Lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch Saturday and Sunday, dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Beer and wine. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$51.