You can satisfy your taste buds with some hard-to-find, regional dishes.

You don’t have to be hungry, pregnant or bored to get a hankering for a favoritefood. The mood strikes when you least expect it--in that important meeting with the boss, sitting frozen in traffic on the freeway, looking at the VCR on your day off.

Many of us hanker for regional specialties that brought us comfort as children: Polish sausages, Cornish pasties, Louisiana gumbo, a great bagel. I hanker for lots of different foods and sometimes do not know where to find them. So for the last month or so, I’ve been searching for certain foods, a few suggested by colleagues, a few my own favorites. Please drop me a note if there is something you can’t find. If it’s out there, I may just feature it in a second list.

1. Cinnamon Cake Doughnut

Every now and again, I long for an old-fashioned American doughnut, the dense, crumbly cake once a fixture at picnics and church outings. Du-par’s Coffee Shop is thought by many to have the San Fernando Valley’s best pancakes, but I never get to them. Their firm, fat cinnamon cake doughnut, the kind that breaks apart in the mouth in a cascade of crumbs, is my favorite doughnut in the city.

It’s laced with a healthy pinch of nutmeg, the cake itself colored a light, cafe au lait shade of brown. I ordered one a couple of weeks ago along with an espresso, and the waitress looked at me as if I was off my rocker. “How you gonna dip a doughnut into an espresso?” she queried.

Du-par’s Coffee Shop, 12036 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 766-4437. Open 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 6 a.m. to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Doughnut, 95 cents.

2. Polish Sausage

People from Chicago dream of tomato-rich Chicago beef sandwiches, jumbo hot dogs called red hots and Polish sausages. Chicago native Norm Rubin owns Rubin’s Red Hots, the Valley’s best hot dog stand, which you spot by first locating a 17-foot section of authentic Chicago El track.

“Our Polish isn’t as spicy or fatty as a lot of the dogs out there,” Rubin said. Nonetheless, it’s a real winner. This is a sweet, juicy sausage encased in one of Rubin’s terrific onion-studded buns, offset perfectly by a heap of sweetish sauerkraut and prepared mustard. Rubin has them flown in from the Second City a couple of times weekly. The Red Hot, at $2.90, is a bigger seller than the Polish. It’s the quintessential hot dog, complete with all the trimmings. Think of the Polish as the sausage for purists. It doesn’t need all the relishes and toppings to stand up for itself.

Rubin’s Red Hot, 15322 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 905-6515. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Chicago Polish, $3.45.

3. Egg Cream

The egg cream got its name because it contains no egg, no cream--sort of a New York joke. I’m told that it was at its best at a candy store called the Gem Spa, on Manhattan’s 2nd Avenue. You can make one at home using Fox’s U-Bet syrup and club soda, but it always tastes better at a soda fountain.

But whether served in a paper cone or a tall, cool glass, this frothy drink has to be made with soda water, ice-cold milk and some kind of chocolate syrup. I brought a native New Yorker to Brent’s Deli in Northridge, which I think makes the Southland’s best egg cream, and he pronounced it above average. The foam on this drink is about two inches thick, the liquid underneath zippy and chocolatey. I was impressed enough to order seconds. He barely finished his.

Brent’s, 19565 Parthenia St., Northridge, (818) 349-9850. Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Egg cream, $1.75.

4. Five-Way Chili

One of our staffers is from Cincinnati, where something called Skyline Chili is a local sensation. I’ve been to Cincinnati and I’ve had this stuff, an aromatically spiced chili originally made from a Greek chef’s recipe. Frankly, I think I missed something.

Chili John’s in Burbank is our local cult chili parlor. This small cafe serves up five-way chili--to use Cincinnati lingo--with beans, spaghetti, cheese and onions. Chili John’s got its start in Green Bay, Wis., of all places. I’ve eaten there, but after a few steins of dark beer, all chili tastes good.

This chili is basic, ground meat, lots of cumin, enough oil to power a small tugboat. You eat it in great bowls at a long, circular counter in the shadow of an Alpine mural. This is a handsome little cafe, but I’m not enamored of this chili, and the spaghetti underneath is far from al dente. There’s a chicken chili here, too, less greasy with a cleaner finish.

Chili John’s, 2088 Burbank Blvd., Burbank, (818) 846-3611. Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, closed Sundays and Mondays. Chili with spaghetti and beans, $4.85.

5. Pasty

Gary Hirn hails from Escanaba, in Upper Michigan, where the pasty is king. At his Guppy’s Pasty Shop in North Hollywood, you get a filling meal in a crust for under $2.

The pasty, a.k.a. Cornish pasty, is one of the last vestiges of culture from ancient Cornwall at the southwestern tip of England, and a place that lost its Celtic language (related to Welsh) during the late 17th Century. You still find pasties in Wisconsin and Michigan--simple, hearty short-crust pies stuffed with a meat, potato and carrot filling. Hirn’s are delicious, and he makes four varieties; the traditional beef, chicken, chili beef and chili chicken.

About the only drawback is the entrance to the place, hard to spot in the rear of a corner strip mall.

Guppy’s Pasty Shop, 12849 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, (818) 982-5109. Open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Pasty, $1.75.

6. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb is real farm food. In the country, they put it up in jars and bake it in pies.

It’s difficult to find rhubarb pie in the big city, although it seems to be something a lot of people hanker for. However, at Barron’s Family Restaurant in Burbank, you get wholesome strawberry rhubarb pie almost every day of the week. It’s a crusty, sweet-tart pie, latticed with a Crisco crust much like a cherry pie, and it’s great with a mid-afternoon cup of coffee.

Owner Gordon Barron worked for Du-par’s more than 32 years; it’s where, he claims, he concocted the original recipe for the pancake batter. Today, he runs this modest, old-style cafe, full of faded vinyl booths and bygone-era customers, with daughter Connie Trimble. Also come to Barron’s for hearty Americana such as pan-fried chicken and home-style meatloaf.

Barron’s Family Restaurant, 4130 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, (818) 846-0043. Open 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Strawberry rhubarb pie, $2.05.

7. Barbecued Lamb Sandwich

The Bear Pit is a dark, homey place with a sawdust-covered floor and wagon-wheel chandeliers. Diners sit on wood-slat benches at unadorned tables.

The best thing to eat here is something you may not find anywhere else in Southern California, a barbecued lamb sandwich. The sandwich is usually sold on a French roll or sesame seed bun, but for a dollar extra, you can have it on garlic toast, the best way to go. The lamb is lean, thinly sliced and generously stacked; the thick garlic toast a magical companion for it. Dip the sandwich in the restaurant’s smoke-flavored, mustardy barbecue sauce. The combination is close to perfection.

The Bear Pit, 10825 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, (818) 365-2500. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Barbecued lamb sandwich, $5.25.

8. Callie Mae’s Cactus Twigs

Wild Bill’s, an oddly shaped, free-standing building on upper Vineland Avenue, is painted on the outside with tall, Kermit the Frog-green saguaro cactus. Maybe you’ve never had a craving for the restaurant’s Callie Mae’s cactus twigs, spears of nopalito cactus coated with a crusty, spicy cornmeal batter, but the food is addictive--fried zucchini pales before it.

The fry cook plunges the crisp, sweetly medicinal spears into a deep fryer for the perfect amount of time, and they come out hot and juicy. Regular customers like to eat them with the restaurant’s “flamin’ Injun hot sauce,” one of the hottest barbecue sauces in the entire city.

Wild Bill’s Bar-B-Que, 5342 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 752-4557. Open 24 hours daily. Callie Mae’s cactus twigs, $4.

9. Bialy

There are lots of great bagels in Los Angeles, but I prefer the dense, chewy ones sold by a chain called I & Joy, which has locations scattered around the city.

The bialy is not exactly a bagel, although it is made from boiled, baked dough in the exact same way. It takes its name from a town called Bialystok in eastern Poland, has no center hole and has a crunchy topping made from grizzled onions, garlic and salt. I & Joy bagels contain no cholesterol, no fat and low sodium, but if you slice one in two and smear both halves with the chain’s good lox and cream cheese spread, like I do, you can throw away the nutritional guidelines.

I & Joy, 16060 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 501-9267. Open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; 11156 Balboa Blvd., Granada Hills, (818) 363-9843. Open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 18539 Devonshire St., Northridge, (818) 363-9879. Open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 7535 Fallbrook Ave., Canoga Park, (818) 992-9792. Open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 11974 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 760-9068. Open 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bialy, 50 cents, or $4.75 a dozen.

10. File Gumbo

Until she passed away in 1992, Oklahoma native Clara Huling prepared one of the tastier gumbos this side of Baton Rouge in her modest Chatsworth cafe. And now her son, Kevin, carries on the tradition. It’s a dark, murky version thickened with a light flour roux and real file--a mixture of powdered sassafras and thyme, chock-full of shrimp, sausage, rice and the surprise addition of mussels. A friend raved about the sausage, and we all took turns guessing what it was.

“I played around with several sausages until I found the one I liked,” Huling later divulged. “Believe it or not, the sausage that tastes best comes from Farmer John.” Call in advance, because it isn’t available every day.

Les Sisters, 21818 Devonshire St., Chatsworth, (818) 998-0755. Lunch 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. File gumbo, $5.95.

11. Cuban-Style Chinese Fried Rice

Lots of my New Yorker friends hanker for the Cuban/Chinese dishes you find in plenty on the Upper West Side. We have lots of Cuban restaurants, but none of them really cross over to Chinese dishes the way they do in New York.

El Criollo in Van Nuys, however, will cook up Chinese-style fried rice on request, if the order is big enough. It’s a nondescript little cafe where you eat garlic chicken, yucca and black beans. I’m told this rice, made with egg, ham, scallions, chicken, maybe even shrimp (depending on the whim of the cook), is fluffy, fragrant and just like it is in Manhattan. I can’t say, though. I haven’t gotten to eat it in three visits.

El Criollo, 13245 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 760-9883. Cuban-style Chinese fried rice, call for hours and prices.

12. Rotisserie Chicken

One hankering easy to satisfy is that for good rotisserie chicken. The dish has gotten so popular, even the Colonel has jumped onto the bandwagon.

There is, however, one place that sets the standard, Glendale’s Zankou Chicken, the best cheap meal around.

It’s an airy cafe fueled by three enormous metal rotisseries, each of which cook up to 50 chickens at one time on rotating metal spits.

The chicken comes out crisp, golden brown, juicy and fragrant. Most people eat this chicken with an intense white garlic sauce, triangles of steamy pita bread, pickled turnips and roasted peppers, but it is great on its own.

The Colonel’s doesn’t even come close.

Zankou Chicken, 1415 E. Colorado St., Unit D, Glendale, (818) 244-1937. Open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Half-chicken, $3.25.