How Swede It Is : Christmas smorgasbord at Gustaf Anders in Santa Ana is as authentically Scandinavian as it is a memorable dining experience.

Christmas dining is special in many cultures, but for me--and 9 million Swedes--nothing resonates more in body and spirit than a proper Swedish Christmas buffet (Jul smorgasbord).

This meal has been a holiday tradition at Gustaf Anders for several years now, and I dare say GA’s is the equal of any Jul smorgasbord in this country. The restaurant’s always-imaginative chef, Ulf Strandberg, has created a huge Christmas table covered in white linen and laden with a myriad of iced, cold and hot offerings, traditional Swedish dishes and some original creations.

Add a selection of the restaurant’s wonderful breads, an array of cheeses and around a half dozen Scandinavian desserts, and you’ve got yourself a short course in Swedish cooking. And a lunch or dinner to remember.

If you haven’t been to this elegant restaurant before, you may want to know that it’s a low-slung, art-filled space. At this time of year, it’s all done up with festive Swedish Christmas decorations such as a tree trimmed with wheat sheaves and custom candlesticks from the Swedish glassmaker Orrefors. The best tables in the dining room face a tinted window with a view on an enclosed courtyard.

Chances are that once your table is ready, you’ll want to jump right into the buffet. Before you do, though, Bill Magnuson, the serious-looking but fun-loving co-owner, is likely to offer you an aquavit, such as O.P. Anderson, a caraway-flavored Swedish vodka that has been on the market for over a century. Or perhaps a sparkling Ramlosa mineral water, poured from a cool-looking ice-blue bottle. When you’ve wet your whistle, that’s when the real fun starts.

Under your service plate you’ll discover a sheet of printed instructions on how to eat smorgasbord like a true Swede. The prime directive is not to overload your plate, but there’s also a strict protocol to the whole thing. You’re supposed to eat it as seven separate courses: herrings, cold seafoods, warm seafoods, cold meats, hot dishes, cheeses and, finally, desserts.

I found this out the hard way. I first had smorgasbord in Stockholm’s Opera Kallaren, one of the grandest buffets in Europe. As a callow youth, I piled my plate high with every imaginable delicacy all at once, only to face the withering stare of a Swedish grandmother. This daunting lady then proceeded to lecture me on everything from proper Scandinavian table etiquette to America’s then presence in Southeast Asia. It was a meal I never forgot.

You won’t get the lecture here, but if you follow the plan, you’ll certainly have a fine meal. Start out with a plate of the cold herrings, all finely flavored, delicate and pungent. They come in mustard sauce, curry sauce, lemon sauce and lime sauce, and there’s also matjes herring, herring in spicy fruit chutney and even rollmops, herring rolled into a circle.

On the same table you’ll also find inlagd stekt stromming (Baltic sprats, smaller herrings with a mild, sweet flavor), not to mention perfect gravlax, shrimp in dill cream sauce and a sort of curried deviled crab. You eat these fish with condiments such as sour cream, golden caviar, cod roe, chopped onions and minced chives.

If I stopped here, I’d be a very happy man. But you can proceed, as I did, to the array of cold fish dishes: herring and roast beef salad, smoked trout in beet caper sauce, smoked salmon, marinated anchovies, poached salmon, salmon salad and a few others, all delicious.

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Soon after, I made the rounds of the cold meats. I took clove-studded ham with sweet-tart Swedish mustard, two types of head cheese (sylt), a ham and potato casserole (skinklode), Caesar salad, a rather un-Swedish chicken liver truffle pa^te and an even more un-Swedish plate of roasted red bell peppers.

Then I made a beeline for Jansson’s frestelse (literally, “Jansson’s temptation”), a warm, filling casserole of shredded potatoes, anchovies and cheese, golden brown around the edge of the baking dish. It leads you into the hot dishes, which include kottbullar, the famous “Swedish meatball”; kalops, a clove-scented Swedish beef stew; prinsenkorv, a pork sausage; potatiskorv, a sausage with a soft filling of meat and mashed potatoes; and side dishes like boiled cabbage, kale and potatoes.

If you’re up for it, you could then hit the cheese table, where caraway, Swiss, Edam, Gouda, Gruyere and the rich Swedish Vasterbotten cheese await you. Vasterbotten is especially delicious with a slice of limpa, a dense Swedish country bread that Gustaf Anders bakes in its kitchen.

You’ll never know whether you can tackle the desserts until you try. Naturally there’ll be the Swedish dessert everyone identifies this restaurant with, Princess cake: layers of jam, cream and sponge cake, topped with a green marzipan frosting. Or you could choose lemon tart, lingonberry-stuffed apple tart or a rich chocolate tart.

But my favorite dessert here is the simplest: pepparkrakor. Off to one side you’ll find a plate of these buttery, razor-thin Swedish ginger snaps, known to American children from Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking tales.

What fun it must be to be a kid at Christmas in Sweden. Come eat this buffet, and you’ll get an idea exactly what I mean.

The buffet is $39 for lunch, $49 for dinner. The buffet will be served through Dec. 30, but the restaurant will be closed Dec. 27-28. Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Dec. 24, the hours will be 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. On Christmas, the service will be from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

BE THERE

Gustaf Anders, South Coast Plaza Village, corner of Bear and Sunflower streets, Santa Ana. (714) 668-1737. All major cards.