Primo Dining Picnic-Style

Intelligent fast food.

OK, do I hear giggling out there? Then let me tell you, “intelligent fast food” may sound like a contradiction in terms, but if you stop by Annie’s Pantry, it’s exactly what you’ll find.

The place belongs to Robert Bell and Michael Franks, who also own Chez Melange, Depot and other highly regarded South Bay restaurants. It’s located in Rolling Hills Plaza, directly in front of an AMC Cineplex--which, it must be said, is convenient if you’re going out for dinner and a show but is a curse otherwise. At peak show times, it can be a trial to find a good parking place in this lot.

I particularly enjoy lunch here, when the sun shines through the plastic tent that surrounds the restaurant, magically transforming an ordinary sidewalk into a partially enclosed patio. Most of Annie’s food is the picnicky sort of thing you’d want to eat outdoors anyway. The menu runs to sandwiches, salads, homey soups and incredibly good desserts.

My only caveat is that you’d better like pigeons. Dozens of them will be doing the hip-hop under your table while you eat, hoping to catch an errant crouton or two. They have good taste. Nearly all the sandwiches come on excellent breads from La Brea Bakery, except for the Izzy’s New York rye used for the Reuben and the corned beef.

My favorite sandwich here is the terrific French dip: tender, hand-carved roast beef, perfectly medium rare, piled into a crusty baguette with a smear of subtle horseradish mayonnaise. A beefy dipping sauce comes on the side.

There’s also a fine grilled BLTC: applewood-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato and pungent Cheddar on sourdough. On the sweet side, there’s Annie’s sloppy Joe, a mound of shredded barbecued pork in red sauce on a sourdough roll. The twice-cooked corned beef sandwich is filled with extremely lean meat crusted with brown sugar and mustard. I also like the Mediterranean tuna melt: albacore, chopped olives and garbanzos on grilled sourdough, all blanketed with melted Jack.

Every day you have a choice of two soups, one cream-based and one broth-based. One time I had a first-rate chunky minestrone of carrots, onions, fresh tomatoes and cannellini beans; another, there was a creamy chicken vegetable soup loaded with potatoes and big hunks of shredded chicken. Another good broth-based soup is the beef vegetable, generously stocked with big pieces of stewed meat. On Fridays, you can get a flavorful creamy clam chowder.

The tossed-to-order salads are a strong suit. The best, the Chez (referring to Chez Melange) fried chicken salad, is greens, pecans, sweet corn and nuggets of boneless fried chicken held together by a light ranch dressing. There’s a terrific salad of red-skinned potatoes (with bits of the skin left on) mixed with chopped onions, Gulden’s mustard, hard-boiled eggs and real mayonnaise.

For once, a Chinese chicken salad is not too sweet; what you really taste in this one is the pleasant sesame ginger dressing and the bean sprouts. Annie’s turkey Cobb, meanwhile, has real bacon bits, plenty of blue cheese, chopped turkey breast and Green Goddess dressing. All salads come on chilled plates to keep them crisp.

Those are the main courses. There are also some dishes from the potato family, including good baked potatoes with toppings like chunky turkey ragu or sloppy Joe, and extra-crisp fresh shoestring potatoes, almost entirely greaseless, served in a cloth basket.

You order cafeteria-style and the food is brought to your table when ready. You eat with plastic forks and spoons and defend your clothes with paper napkins. No one said this was the Ritz.

But some of these desserts would be quite at home there. Pot de chocolat is a fabulous chocolate mousse, and it’s a kick to eat something so elegant out of an aluminum cup. Ditto the eggy creme brulee and the rich-tasting but low-fat lemon pudding, both also served in unfashionable aluminum.

Back in the home-cooked category, there is an apple cobbler, served warm, which has the authentic cobbler crust of biscuit dough. The chefs sort of chop it up and cram in into a plastic dish, but I’m not complaining. It beats anything you can eat inside a movie theater all to pieces, regardless of how long it takes to find a parking space.

BE THERE

Where to Go: Annie’s Pantry, 2599 Airport Drive, Torrance. (310) 534-8100. Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Beer and wine. Parking lot. All major cards. Takeout. Lunch for two, $12-$23.

What to Get: Chez fried chicken salad, French dip, Mediterranean tuna melt, soup of the day, pot de chocolat.