RESTAURANT REVIEW : Old-Fashioned Traditionalism Still in Style at Ojai’s Gaslight : Quality Food and Caring Service May Be What Fuels Longevity of the German-Inspired Eating Establishment

The Gaslight and its brand of German-inspired continental cuisine have been on the scene since 1971. Is this a restaurant whose glory days are past? Perhaps so. Yet there are still excellent reasons to look in on it.

Our first visit was something out of the Twilight Zone. We walked in on a cold, blustery night to find all the lights out and the cook standing on one of the dining room tables. The hostess greeted us as if we were the last people on earth she ever wanted to see. However, the electrical glitch turned out to be temporary and actually endeared the place to me.

Even when the lights came back on, the restaurant remained dim. This is a dinner spot that chooses to envelop its guests in the cozy glow of candlelight, comfortable chairs, thoughtful service and satisfying food. The food probably seemed a lot more exciting in 1971, but it is still impressive.

I had two wonderful soups here, a Swiss butter soup--a peppery vegetable soup with a tomato broth--and a well-seasoned minestrone full of great northern beans.

Fried medallions of eggplant were tantalizingly crusty and blanketed with warm Parmesan cheese. Mushroom appetizers had been simply sauteed in a little wine and fresh herbs. The house salad came with an unusual creamy dressing, shaded pink, flavored with curry and surprisingly good.

Of the half a dozen classic German dishes on the menu, you can’t go wrong with fried classics like wiener schnitzel ($13.95), a marvelous breaded cutlet of veal. German bratwurst ($10.95) was also good, if you go for protein in the form of comfort food. The sausage was pale and mild, soft as mashed potatoes and also tasty. Less satisfying were the potato pancakes, which lost their good first impression and began to taste sour and lumpy as they cooled. A classic German rouladen ($14.95) had a nice filling, but the beef was tough.

The fresh fish one night was very ordinary, but they produced a unique and good veal Marsala. Instead of “our own version,” it could have been called “marsalsa” as it was covered with fresh chopped tomatoes and parsley. The plates were loaded with vegetables, roasted potatoes and the special eggplant.

My dining companion, who eats with me often, informed me halfway through her dinner that this was the best of all the meals we’d had together. “I may be turning into a food reactionary,” she said, “but I love this place.” Her Kansas steak ($13.95) had turned out to be terrific. “It would be hard to say anything more descriptive than perfect,” she insisted.

Veal piccata was also good, fried in the superb way they do this, served with lots of mushrooms and just enough capers for the piccata touch.

As if they could do no wrong, they brought out two fine desserts, an airy rich cheesecake with raspberry sauce and a piping hot apple pie made with tart, tart apples. We left that night in a glow of well-being.

One small complaint: On an uncrowded evening, we were seated next to a table of smokers. We should have been asked.

On the other hand, the service was unusually personable, even refreshingly opinionated. (“You have two cents of wine left in that glass.”) One night, a waitress took the time to draw a map for some tourists who wanted to go dancing. And the cook came out several times to chat about the food. You may not find a single roasted pepper here or shred of goat cheese, but friendly attentiveness like this can go a long way. No wonder the place has had such longevity.

Details

* WHAT: The Gaslight Restaurant.

* WHEN: Open for dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays, and 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

* WHERE: 11432 N. Ventura Ave., Ojai, 646-5990.

* COST: Dinner for two, food only, $28 to $56. Visa, MasterCard, American Express.