VALLEY WEEKEND : RESTAURANT REVIEW : La Caban~ita Serves Up Taste of Mexico City : Glendale establishment offers hearty, homey dishes that would make any <i> chilango</i> proud.

I invariably bristle when a chilango friend of mine ( chilango is Mexican slang for people from Mexico City) declares there is no real Mexican food in L.A. “Everything comes topped with gooey cheese,” she says with a sniff, “and the salsas are made in factories.”

Last week she was visiting Los Angeles, and I had a chance to bring her to La Caban~ita, one of the Valley’s best small restaurants. This Glendale establishment specializes in the very cooking she was raised on, the homey, hearty dishes peculiar to Mexico City.

I didn’t exactly get an apology, but I did notice that she wiped her plate clean, employing one of Glendale’s best handmade tortillas in the process. “I didn’t eat breakfast,” she said defensively, motioning to the waiter for another round of tortillas.

La Caban~ita has been a staunch defender of quality Mexican cooking for quite some time. There used to be a branch in La Can~ada, but the Jimenez family closed it down two years ago. Now there’s just this bright storefront up in the hilly north end of Glendale, just below Montrose.

Here La Caban~ita has carved out a niche as the local Mexican hangout, as well as being a fine example of the quintessential neighborhood restaurant. It’s not uncommon to see the sight, unusual in the Valley, of clumps of people waiting at the door (as early as 6:30 on weeknights)--the place is that popular. At peak hours--lunch and weekend dinner--be prepared for a substantial wait.

Those eager diners certainly haven’t come to admire the room. Oh, there are serapes and Mexican crafts scattered around, and they make the narrow, cramped dining room pleasant enough. But it’s by no means gorgeous, and no one would call it particularly comfortable.

La Caban~ita’s tortilla chips (made from flour, rather than corn, tortillas) are greasy and salty, and the incredible homemade salsas sort of trap you into eating them. One of the salsas, a murky brown concoction based on smoked ancho chiles, is as good as any salsa I’ve ever tasted. If you’re like most seasoned clients, you’ll balance the tortilla chips with one of the refreshing cold drinks ( aguas frescas ) based on tropical fruits such as watermelon, pineapple or guava.

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The range of appetizers may not be great, but they get the job done. Most days, the kitchen makes a mean sopa de zanahoria , an intense chicken stock flavored with finely pureed carrots. The workmanlike quesadillas are crisp and spare, without an excess of cheese oozing out the sides. There’s a blowout appetizer platter for four called charola de botanas that’s loaded with guacamole, crumbled chorizo, hunks of carnitas, fried pork skins and much more.

One of the house specialties is carne asada , the tender, smoky slabs of grilled beef accompanied by salad, wonderful corn tortillas and the finely minced condiment pico de gallo , redolent of onion and parsley. Pollo con mole is a huge chicken breast stewed with a classic mole poblano sauce. It’s a dark, mysterious paste flavored with bitter chocolate, seeds and spices.

Mole poblano comes from the city of Puebla, and speaking of Puebla, the chiles rellenos here are authentically made with the dark green peppers known as poblanos . The mixed cheese stuffing is flavorful, the batter is surprisingly light.

La Caban~ita’s pork dishes are all wonderful. One is cubed pork with a green tomatillo sauce ( mole verde ). My favorite is chuletas en chile pasilla , fall-apart tender pork chops in a faintly reddish pasilla chile sauce. Most entrees come with fluffy Mexican rice and a bean dish, either frijoles charros --whole beans simmered in their own juices--or the better-known refritos or “refried” beans.

If you aren’t hungry enough for a complete meal, La Caban~ita makes exemplary snacks. Heading that list are sopes , fat corn cakes with various meaty toppings such as shredded chicken or picadillo (ground, aromatically spiced beef). Tacos con rajas con crema feature creamy strips of poblano peppers and onions. Tostadas vegetarianas are flat, crunchy discs of cornmeal topped with beans, guacamole, tomatoes, carrots, onions and red cabbage.

Finish with a square or two of the dense house flan, or perhaps a dessert empanada , cream cheese and guava jelly in a fried flour shell.

My chilango friend says she’ll be back for more research. She suspects her visit there was little more than a fluke. And besides, she likes the tortillas.

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DETAILS

* WHERE: La Caban~ita, 3447 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale.

* WHEN: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

* SUGGESTED DISHES: sopes compuestos , $7.50; chuletas en chile pasilla , $8.25; carne asada , $8.25; pollo con mole , $8.25.

* HOW MUCH: Dinner for two, $16-$23. Beer and wine only. Street parking. American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

* FYI: (818) 957-2711.