RESTARANTS : Shenandoah: Casually Southern Fare at the Shore

For more than a dozen years, Shenandoah Cafe has been the Southland’s most-charming antebellum-themed Southern dinner house. Last month, for only the second time in more than a decade, the Long Beach restaurant decided to open for weekday lunch. The management says the new schedule is the result of a rent increase. Lucky for us, anyway.

The cafe belongs to Rick and Jill Wilson, a couple who have a loyal following up in Belmont Shore. Their restaurant is cute in the mildly kittenish, frilly style of a bed-and-breakfast. To me, dining here suggests a dinner party at Tara, except that because this is the beach, dude, you get to come casual.

A slight air of formality does permeate the proceedings nevertheless. All three of the cozy little dining rooms have high ceilings and are papered in an assortment of flowery prints. Waitresses in ornately stitched uniforms--Southern belles from Central Casting--hand out delicious yeasted rolls and homemade apple fritters from cloth-covered wicker baskets. Lighting is subdued, to the point of being downright dim in the windowless main dining room.

While serving up timeless charm and classic Southern recipes, the Wilsons are careful to keep their cooking smartly up to date. One evening, I had a wonderful slab of baby back ribs, glazed with a mouthwatering chipotle pepper sauce. Another time, at lunch, the star was tempting linguine, cooked perfectly al dente, jumbled with a pile of flavorful rock shrimp.

The kitchen isn’t strictly Southern at Shenandoah Cafe, but by and large, foods of Texas, Louisiana and the mid-Atlantic states dominate this lengthy menu. On the menu, each dish is identified by city of origin. Country-fried pork chops, we find out, hail from Charlotte, N.C. The very Continental Riverwalk steak is--surprise!--a recipe from San Antonio, Tex.

Shenandoah’s new lunch menu is a lighter affair than the one offered at dinner time. During the day, the cafe serves mostly salads, sandwiches and pastas, plus a few main course dishes. Texas-fried chicken salad could be the lunch menu’s No. 1 crowd-pleaser. Picture a salad bowl filled with an assortment of greens, candied pecans, fresh corn and diced bell pepper, scattered with juicy bits of fried chicken.

The house Caesar salad is too rich and cheesy to embellish any light lunch. A better choice might be the restaurant’s popular black bean soup, a subtly flavored creation lightly swirled with sour cream and salsa. It makes a perfect complement to the indulgent sandwiches, such as the smoked turkey sandwich. The turkey is smoked on the premises, cut into thick slices and served on fresh baguette with Roma tomato, herbed mayonnaise and sweet pickles.

I’m also fond of the Texas style beef brisket sandwich, and so what if it not as smoky or redolent of cumin as one from a Dallas parking lot? This sandwich is crammed full of thick slabs of grainy, crumbly brisket dripping with a complex red sauce. The roll, a fresh, chewy onion bun, is an ideal textural contrast.

Lunch is one thing, but you’ll need a hearty Southern appetite to tackle the dinner menu.

Unless you plan to share, I wouldn’t even attempt to tackle the sauteed artichoke hearts. You get five or six huge, fresh artichoke hearts slathered in too much butter, white wine, garlic and scallions, bubbling in a hot metal dish. The beer-battered mushrooms come in a thick batter, sodden with oil--maybe the one true misstep on Shenandoah’s soil.

The seafood gumbo is first-rate, made with okra and a proper roux, and chock-full of shrimp, sea bass, swordfish, clams and whatever the chef has around. I think it works better as an entree, especially after the hot breads and soup or heartily dressed salad that precede all entrees.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, everyone will be ordering the smoked Cajun prime rib, a beautiful, tender cut that must be a good 18 ounces. Chicken-fried steak is breaded and pan-fried, topped with a light, peppery country cream gravy. Then the menu detours to Sioux Falls, S.D., for a Gruyere stuffed pork loin, topped with garlic butter.

The previously mentioned Riverwalk steak tastes more like something you’d get in Dijon, or even Paris, than in San Antonio. It’s a thin-sliced filet, charred slightly around the edges, and comes with a delicate mustard caper butter sauce.

In case the richness of these dishes is daunting for you, the menu has a subsection that complies with guidelines set down in a book called “Healthy Dining in Los Angeles.” It includes low-fat crab cakes and mushroom- and herb-topped halibut from Florida’s Gold Coast. Even barbecue-style chicken breast from Kerrville, Tex., wherever that is.

You have no escape from the homemade desserts, though. They’re as over-the-top as any I’ve had in quite a while.

The German butter cake is royally yellow and practically oozes butter. The top is dusted with sugar and always nicely browned, but the cake itself is fickle. One time I had it and the inside came out moist and fluffy. Last week, it had a batterlike texture, better suited to the apricot and raspberry purees that accompany it.

The house brownie, served warm, is a fudgy explosion that reminds me of an overdone souffle. Cool it down by scoops of Haagen-Dazs vanilla and chocolate ice cream; you get both. The smooth, accomplished creme brulee seems a little out of place in this home-style company, but anyone would applaud the crusty, shortening-rich apple cobbler, its piping hot apples mingling with the aromas of cinnamon and lemon.

Dieting be damned. It seems almost un-American not to finish one.

Shenandoah Cafe is moderate to expensive. Appetizers are $4.95 to $6.95. Complete dinners are $10.65 to $20.95.

* SHENANDOAH CAFE

* 4722 E. 2nd St., Belmont Shore, Long Beach.

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* Lunch Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m., Friday, 5-11 p.m., Saturday 4:30-11 p.m., Sunday, 4:30-10 p.m.

* Visa, MasterCard and American Express.