Cadillac Cafe Gets Back Into Gear

Deja vu! Ten years and two restaurants later, the Cadillac Cafe has sprung back to life in its original location on La Cienega. From the street, it looks like a toy log cabin, only life-sized, and in cartoon colors: a modern orange, green, yellow and blue.

Inside, a smoke-gray ceiling glitters and the walls are sherbet orange. The tables are edged in chrome, just like the ones we spilled milk on as children. The overhead light fixtures look like something you made in shop from clear orange sheet plastic. And three lime green lights are mounted on L.A.’s biggest ironing board. Booths and banquette are upholstered in an antic patchwork of Naugahyde, vinyl, orange fake fur. Windows are hung with a sparkling sheer black fabric that makes it look as if it’s always raining.

And then there are the waiters. Ours wore flannel boxer shorts, a clear plastic apron and a shimmery gray knit shirt that closely resembled the ceiling. Another sported a shock of fake black hair, the world’s worst-fitting rug--who noticed what he wore.

As for the music: It ranges from the Jackson Five to Tony Bennett, the soundtrack of “Cinderella” to the Chemical Brothers.

Oh, the resurrected Cadillac is an amusing spot, clearly slap-happy to be alive again after such a lengthy hiatus. Given the assertive and comic renovation, it’s hard to be certain, but I believe this was the space previously occupied by the stark and ambitious Russell’s and, before that, the eager-to-please Dale’s Bistro. Any ghosts have been soundly vanquished--or they didn’t find the booths very comfortable, either.

The goal of the Cadillac Cafe is to serve good food at coffee shop prices, and at this it succeeds, especially if you’re expecting coffee shop food. Many items echo what was fancy in the ‘60s and ‘70s. On the menu, these items are often dubbed “old fashioned.”

As for appetizers, there’s fondue, complete with the little specialty pitchforks: As a dish, it’s just as amusing as it ever was and just as disappointing. It’s not bad fondue, it’s just fondue: cheeses melted with white wine and accompanied by an odd assortment of dipping foods including apple, dry bread, cornichons and rosemary-flecked roasted potatoes.

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Equally retro are the spicy, delicious deviled eggs topped with black caviar. Spinach-walnut pa^te is bland but agreeable, I noticed, to the vegetarians at the table.

I only tried one house-made soup, a bowl of Greek lemon chicken, which had a healthful homemade edge, if not quite enough lemon.

Salads are large and fresh, if often overdressed, sometimes with sugary dressings. The house summer salad with feta, green apples and glazed pecans has a sweet berry dressing. I fell for the entree-sized Chinese chicken salad--also sweet--with its flecks of red candied ginger and shreds of spicy, soy-roasted chicken. Almonds are intelligently substituted for walnuts in a Waldorf chicken salad, with apples and mayo; it is probably best eaten in an “old fashioned” croissant sandwich.

An OK “burnt” meatloaf (available in both sandwich and entree) brought to mind my mother’s version of the dish: They share the same pungent, dried-herb kick. The ostrich burger is described on the menu as “delicately flavored,” which it is: It tastes like gristly mild beef delicately flavored with fish.

Braised lamb shanks perch on rice, smothered with lots of the generic brown gravy you’d find on a hot roast beef sandwich in any Middle American coffee shop. Blackened salmon--another “old-fashioned” dish --is fiercely seasoned; it comes with a cooling fruit chutney, steamed broccoli and some peculiar red beans cooked with cinnamon and honey.

Chocolate layer cake and chocolate “decadence” come from Sweet Lady Jane’s, and these are the desserts to order. The house-made crumb-crusted apple tarte tatin and coconut-topped lemon tart both need more work.

The Cadillac Cafe is open for breakfast Saturdays and Sundays. Try the “real French toast,” or a tasty spinach and tomato omelet. Oh, and lots of delicious coffee.

* Cadillac Cafe, 359 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 657-6591. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Open for breakfast Saturdays and Sundays. Beer and wine served. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $18-$48.