<i> GRAND PRIX</i> : This Venice Restaurant Is Small, but So Are Its Prices: a Four-Course Meal for $30

The location must have what can only be called good karma. After all, Hans and Mary Rockenwagner cooked up a storm in this tiny Venice space before moving on to larger quarters in Santa Monica. Then fledgling chef Joe Miller moved in, and he has been turning out his hugely appealing, all-American cooking for three years.

Come to dinner at Joe’s any night, and he is in the kitchen cooking. That’s more unusual than it seems at first. This is one chef who is not jetting around the country or consulting for a number of restaurants. (Miller does have a second restaurant, Reed’s, in Manhattan Beach, where partner Brandon Reed mans the stoves.) Joe’s is the equivalent of a small French or Italian restaurant where you find the same waiter, the same cook, the same patron year after year.

The Venice storefront, with just four tables inside the door, a handful of seats at the bar and a slot at the back where you can get a glimpse of the kitchen, also includes a long, newly remodeled corridor with lined-up tables, halogen lighting and whimsical gilt-framed, food-themed drawings depicting the beloved Babar and friends. Miller added double doors to an adjoining patio where, come warm weather, he’ll be seating outside.

Miller’s cooking is highly personal, homey and uncontrived. He changes the menu seasonally, adding special appetizers or entrees. Every night he offers two four-course prix fixe menus at $30 and $38. Each has two choices for everything except dessert, but who’s going to argue with a deep-dish blueberry cobbler or cranberry-apple crisp or feel shorted by warm chocolate souffle cake served with vanilla ice cream? Ever flexible, Miller lets you order a la carte off the prix fixe menu and vice versa.

However you order, he’s offering a lot for the money. Let me recount one recent $30 prix fixe meal. I begin with an emerald green arugula salad topped with two fat bacon-wrapped scallops, followed by a sweetly spiced butternut squash soup, a juicy pork loin served with earthy mashed potatoes, a scattering of wild mushrooms and the roast’s garlic-spiked natural juices. And for dessert, that classic berry cobbler.

Miller doesn’t excel only in the set choices. A special, braised lamb shank, is absolutely seductive: tender and succulent, tastiest close to the bone. The pairing of the lamb with soft pillows of eggplant gnocchi tossed with nuggets of braised eggplant, homemade sun-dried tomatoes and basil makes this dish outstanding. Next to it, another special of monkfish rolled with tomato and basil, presented as a row of medallions atop saffron risotto, seems merely good.

Miller will sometimes take one idea and rework it to suit the seasons. Some weeks ago, he made a wonderful Southern quail salad with roasted pecans and homemade ranch dressing. He recently offered an appetizer of roast quail stuffed with pear and bacon with a terrific salad of greens and cornbread doused with a puckery, delicious vinaigrette. These first courses take a long time--the quail’s fault, explains the waiter. Fortunately, there’s a basket of home-baked breads to occupy the time, including thick slices of warm ivory brioche. Each of the meals I’ve eaten at Joe’s has been almost agonizingly slow, but once the food arrives, it is worth the wait.

Miller does have a tendency to oversauce, however, setting a beautiful piece of salmon and fragrant basil mashed potatoes on a plate awash in thin, tart citrus sauce. Grilled rib eye one night is drowned in a balsamic vinegar-butter sauce. But his ravioli stuffed with delicate chanterelles is all the more satisfying served in a richly flavored wild mushroom broth. There are occasional technical glitches, too. The warm onion tart’s pastry is tough, the tarte tatin ‘s like layered cardboard.

The wait staff is unfailingly good-natured and enthusiastic about the food. They are thoughtful in recommending dishes, will answer questions patiently and don’t pretend to have tasted a dish when they haven’t. Joe’s is also one of the few restaurants open late, even on weekdays.

Miller keeps to a simple, one-page, mostly California wine list. The ’93 Sauvignon Blanc from Ojai Vineyards is good for the price ($21), or try the ’92 Sancerre from Paul Cotat ($36). The ’92 Merlot from Silverado Vineyards ($35) also suits this food beautifully.

At the end of the night, when Miller makes the rounds of the tables, it seems less like a star turn than a genuine concern for his customers. This shy, clean-cut chef clearly loves what he does, and maybe that’s why Joe’s feels like such a warmhearted place.

Joe’s Restaurant, 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice; (310) 399-5811. Beer and wine. Valet and lot parking in rear. No smoking allowed. Closed Mondays. Dinner for two, food only, $50-$70. Corkage $8.