RESTAURANT REVIEW : The Taste of a Good <i> Taverna</i> : * Chef and owner Marianthe runs a sweet little cafe with the kind of fare you’d find in a Greek village.

So you have a little trouble with the name Marianthe’s? You say you don’t know which way to grab hold of it (actually, it’s simple--pronounce it ma-ree-AN-thee, with the “th” voiceless, as in theater )? Think about this: The owner might have given the restaurant her last name, Ioannidu.

Marianthe Ioannidu is an exuberantly friendly woman born in Istanbul, Turkey, of Greek parentage, who cooks, in her own words, “to satisfy her ego.” She was trained as a child psychologist, not as a professional chef, and as any visitor to this sweet little cafe can see, the lack of formal training has its up side and its down side.

The down side is that she really doesn’t put out a full-blown Greek menu. What we have here is basically a mixture of Greek and Syrian appetizers plus a rotating list of daily specials. The up side is that this cooking doesn’t taste like restaurant food. It’s the simple taverna fare, fragrant with garlic, lemon and mint, that you’d hope to encounter in an out-of-the-way Greek village.

The restaurant is by no means fancy, but you probably guessed that. It’s little more than a storefront in a Canoga Park mini-mall, directly opposite a teriyaki chicken emporium. Oh, there are the obligatory blue-and-white photos of Greece hanging about, but basically what you see is a mass of cane chairs and plastic tables--and, pretty soon, Marianthe herself, coming out from behind the counter to take your order.

The prices are far from fancy, too. Nothing costs more than $6.95, which suits her mostly local clientele just fine, thank you. Come here for the first time, and it’s likely that Marianthe will come over and chat with you before taking your order, so she can determine how much of her native cuisine you have experienced.

You should insist on her appetizer combination, a $6.95 feast of hummus, the eggplant dip called baba ghannouj , dolmades (tangy grape leaves with an oily rice stuffing), falafel and Greek salad. This pikilia , as an appetizer combo is called in Greek, also can be customized to include a mound of a creamy cod roe spread ( taramosalata ) or even her wonderful homemade tzatziki , a thick yogurt dip flavored with cucumber, garlic, fresh dill and mint.

Other appetizers include obelisks of feta cheese, bitter Kalamata olives and the orange- and garlic-flavored Greek sausage known as loukaniko . Sometimes Marianthe makes little pastry triangles filled with cheese ( tiropita ) or spinach ( spanakopita ), and my advice is to grab them if you find them available.

The limited selection of main dishes varies according to the day of the week. For instance, Tuesdays there will be a simple country-style baked lemon chicken, drizzled with olive oil and served with wedges of roasted potatoes.

My favorite is Marianthe’s Saturday night special, the Greek meatballs known as keftedes . This is an extremely common Greek dish, but not all keftedes are created equal; they’re like the little girl who, when she is good, is very, very good, but when they’re bad--well, we won’t go into it. These keftedes are wonderful, partly because Marianthe hand-chops the meat for them (“You know what you are getting that way,” she says)--a mixture of lamb and beef, seasoned with mint and garlic.

Fridays she prepares moussaka, the ground meat and eggplant casserole famous throughout the Balkans. In a way, this one is her most impressive dish, because it tastes the least like the versions served in the more commercial Greek restaurants. First she layers a pan with sauteed eggplant that has been dredged lightly in flour, then she adds a meat mixture aromatic with cinnamon and allspice and finally a thick topping of Bechamel sauce. It’s finished off in the oven, and the result is distinguished by penetrating flavors and a refreshingly home-cooked quality.

All the main dishes are complemented by a dense lentil soup or a Greek salad ( horiatki ) chock-full of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and olives, not to mention sliced onions and salad greens. You could make a meal of it, rounded out with wedges of the house pita bread. In fact, many of Marianthe’s customers like to do just that.

Marianthe doesn’t rely entirely on her Greek dishes. There’s also a lunch-counter menu of hot dogs, tuna sandwiches and the like, plus American-style breakfasts, from pancakes to omelets, that she will cook any time of the day or night. She also makes roast lamb ( souvlaki ) or chicken every day, and sticky-sweet homemade baklava.

Well, not quite every day. Never on Sunday, as the song goes; that’s her day of rest. She can use it, believe me.

WHERE AND WHEN)

Location: Marianthe’s, 20103-6 Saticoy St., Canoga Park.

Suggested Dishes: combination appetizer, $6.95; lemon chicken, $5.95; keftedes , $5.95; moussaka, $5.95.

Hours: Breakfast, lunch and dinner 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

Price: Dinner for two, $13 to $18. Parking lot. No alcohol. MasterCard and Visa, with $15 minimum.

Call: (818) 882-8262.