RESTAURANT REVIEW : A Post-Temblor Tumble at Art’s Deli : The landmark features reassuringly good standbys, but there are some disappointments.

Art’s deli was one of the more highly publicized casualties of the Northridge quake. The landmark restaurant was closed for months because of damage, but reopened at the end of September, amid considerable fanfare, almost completely rebuilt.

I’m suffering aftershocks myself after three recent meals at the new Art’s. People say the more things change, the more they stay the same, but much of what I ate there was simply not what I remember from the old Art’s.

Oh, it looks mostly the same, except for the addition of a lot of spruce-colored panels and a couple of hundred glossy white wall tiles. Art’s remains the quintessential deli space: a partially open kitchen, a well-stocked deli counter, bustling waitresses loaded up with huge platters and a noise level that borders on ear-splitting.

A few of owner Art Ginsburg’s standbys, especially his corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, remain sumptuous and delicious, the standard by which the San Fernando Valley measures such things. The meats are perfectly steamed, sliced thin and piled up to the sky on good, crusty deli rye. One of my Brooklyn-born friends pronounced the corned beef dry but tasty. If it’s moist you’re after, go with the flavorful pastrami (bearing in mind that the moisture comes more from fat than from meat juices).

But now to the hard realities. Some of Art’s food, notably a few items that should be the hallmark of a good delicatessen, simply do not cut the mustard. Stuffed derma (called kishke in Yiddish) is a prime example. I was brought up to love this greasy carrot-and-flour-stuffed sausage, traditionally made from a natural casing. Now, it’s true that no deli makes kishke the way Ashkenazi Jews used to in Eastern Europe. Art’s, though, goes too far--it cuts the kishke up, fries the pieces and throws in a bowl of gluey, insipid brown gravy for dipping.

Kreplach are meaty fried dumplings that resemble the pot stickers in a Chinese restaurant. (Of course, pot stickers have a pork stuffing, unthinkable in a deli.) Art’s are big, meaty and well fried. Too bad the filling isn’t tastier. It reminds me of sour meat loaf.

The soups could be improved, too. The bean and barley soup is bland, the sweet and sour cabbage soup is overly sweet. The chicken matzo ball soup is made with a thin broth that looks and tastes as if it came out of a jar. In the center of the bowl sits a matzo ball. I wouldn’t say mine was heavy, folks, but it would have had trouble floating in the Dead Sea.

Among the assorted cold plates, try the the one with Art’s creamy chopped chicken liver, a nosher’s delight. The potato salad, sliced tomato and onion on it, is a perfect companion for Art’s good rye bread.

No complaints about any of the smoked cod, whitefish or lox. They’re all fine comfort food, though nothing as memorable as the high-priced (and worth it) stuff at the new Barney Greengrass the Sturgeon King in the Beverly Hills branch of Barneys New York. And I quite enjoyed my fried kippers, onions and eggs one blustery morning, served with a veritable mountain of home-fried potatoes. (A kipper is a smoky, dark-skinned herring. The Scots have been eating them at breakfast for centuries.)

Stuffed cabbage, an entree, is rolled with another dense filling, this time made from meat mixed with rice, then braised. It isn’t bad if you don’t mind the sweetness of raisins and tomatoes. An entree with a similar sweetness is short ribs in the pot, something like pot roast (and a good cut of meat, at that) served in a huge, gleaming metal tureen. Art’s also serves a good-sized portion of roast chicken, albeit with slightly flaccid skin.

Count the waitresses at Art’s among the restaurant’s charms. You’d better have that order ready, honey, when these women unfurl their pads, or they might just skip away for another five minutes to let you think about it.

Count the oddly pale, medicinal-tasting half-sour pickles and ill-conceived triple decker sandwiches among things to look askance at here. Those full-color photos on the walls are the triple-deckers, and to anyone who can finish a Kathy’s Special--pastrami, chopped liver and tomato--I wish a hearty mazel tov .

It’s easy to fancy some of the desserts, which are inescapable--you have to walk past the pastry counter to get to any table. My favorite is a fudgy mini-chocolate bundt cake, served warm, but there are also an unctuous, cinnamon-rich rice pudding, a crumbly confection of coconut, chocolate and nuts called a Magic Bar and an assortment of good Danishes.

I’m glad Art’s is back, but I’m not ready to become a regular until the kitchen shows a little more finesse. Meanwhile, some friends of mine who live south of the boulevard have been eating here three times a week, proclaiming the second coming. I think they’re being sentimental. Or maybe they just live too far away from Brent’s.

Where and When

Location: Art’s Delicatessen and Restaurant, 12224 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Suggested Dishes: Corned beef sandwich, $8.25; pastrami sandwich, $8.25; lox and cream cheese, $8.95; fried kippers, onions and eggs, $8.95, mini-bundt cakes, $2.95.

Hours: Breakfast, lunch and dinner 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

Price: Dinner for two, $14-$23. Beer and wine only. Valet parking. American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover and Diners.

Call: (818) 762-1221.