A colorful bazaar of dazzling flavors

CAYENNE is small but feisty, a neighborhood cafe with something for everyone but a personality all its own. It’s stylish but modest, contemporary but with traditional underpinnings, eager to please but in no way formulaic.

In a city where pita-andkebab spots sometimes seem as ubiquitous as taquerias, it’s got a distinctive, confident approach, with one spoon solidly in the Middle East, while the other uses such traditional ingredients as sumac, sesame and pomegranate to whip up Americanized melting-pot dishes like salads, scrambles and wraps.

Specials and some dinner entrees have a Moroccan flair, but most dishes are exuberantly mixed-Mediterranean. The menu offers up not only a generous sampling of Middle Eastern mezes and a variety of thin-crust pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and salads but also breakfast pizzas and tasty-with-a-twist egg dishes. And the details -- Turkish coffee, cardamom-curry or mint-garlic salad dressing, perfectly prepared rice pilaf, a fabulous array of house-made desserts -- lift the cafe above the ordinary.

There’s a many-moods atmosphere at this year-old spot that doesn’t hurt, either. On weekday mornings, the sound-system plays Motown and the sunshine pours in; on Thursday nights, there’s soft lighting and piano-bar standards from a lounge singer.

Situated on busy Beverly Boulevard between the vintage New Beverly Cinema and an auto body shop, Cayenne is a mostly patio cafe with sidewalk tables backed by an indoor-outdoor room that’s delineated with sweeping swags of deep burgundy drapery. Inside, the cozy room is warmly decorated in a North African mode -- butter-yellow fabric brightens the wall behind a red-upholstered banquette made inviting with silver-embroidered, dark red pillows. All this in a space not much bigger than your average hot dog stand.

The mezes are rustic and flavorful, generously proportioned for sharing. The ful (an Egyptian fava bean stew) is good -- rich, nicely spiced, wonderfully garlicky favas, their heartiness set off with freshly chopped tomatoes and parsley. The falafel are among the best in town -- refined, light, tender and tasty -- but the hummus is bland. Spanakopita are house-made, savory and enlivened with a bit of cheese, and the tabbouleh is tangy and fresh.

At entree time, couscous comes in a huge pasta bowl with garbanzos, zucchini, carrots and tomatoes. The couscous is light, the vegetables well-seasoned; it’s a satisfying dish (and could have fed two).

Another night, we start with a terrific thin-crust pizza, but by this time, I’m better at calibrating portions and am also able to try the very good Greek salad, served chopped with high-quality olives and tangy, salty feta. A dining companion’s chicken skewer is a simple dish, with moist lemony, garlicky pieces of white meat served alongside fragrant Lebanese-style rice with vermicelli. Chicken pomegranate is a treat -- grilled chicken with a sweet, nuanced pomegranate reduction set off with a generous sprinkling of fresh oregano and salty, crunchy roasted walnuts.

Service is unpretentious and friendly, but the atmosphere takes a turn for the weird on Fridays and Saturdays when the accomplished belly dancer appears. Single gents wave dollar bills as the dancer struts and gyrates expertly to startlingly loud recorded music while kids at another table gape at her sequins and fluttering scarves. The interlude passes, everyone laughs and shrugs, and we return our attention to the table.

Desserts are house-made by, a young waitress confides, “an elderly woman who’s willing to stand around and bake all day.” The misnamed banana tart turns out to be a soothing bread pudding studded with fresh fruit; plum tart is a wonderfully delicate fresh apple-plum confection. The baklava is too doughy, but the citrus cake, a lemony pound cake drizzled with chocolate, is a perfect finish.

Cayenne’s all-day breakfasts feature an appealing selection of Mediterranean-American short-order goodies.

Start with dark Turkish coffee. Appetizing combinations for three-egg omelets or scrambles include the delicious Tuscan, bright with fresh basil and made with goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and artichoke. The Aegean is feta-based, and the Casablanca is made with merguez sausage. There are breakfast pizzas and pitas too.

Perfectly toasted French bread shows up as an accompaniment or in a dish called baguette tartine, where it’s smeared with olive tapenade and topped with fried or scrambled eggs, and a bit of mozzarella (ask the cook to go light on the cheese). The olive tapenade adds just the right spicy underline for the combination of light, crisp bread and hot, fluffy eggs.

Lunch and dinner sandwiches use the same French bread that makes a perfect envelope for such hearty fillings as grilled vegetables or a luxurious combination of smoked turkey, stewed plums and walnuts.

Whatever the time of day, there are more of those endearing details: little shakers of cayenne pepper alongside the salt and pepper on each table, small-handled pitchers for pouring Turkish coffee, French toast served with dates and walnuts. Like a quirky friend who’s got a different take on things, Cayenne’s full of pleasant surprises.

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Cayenne

Location: 7169 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 857-1252.

Price: Breakfast dishes, $7 to $9; appetizers, $3 to $6; 8-inch pizzas, $8.50 to $10; sandwiches, wraps and burgers, $7 to $9.50; dinner entrees, $10 to $15.

Best dishes: Tuscan scramble, falafel, chicken pomegranate, Greek pizza, skewers with rice pilaf, plum tart, citrus cake.

Details: Open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Street parking. Delivery service, minimum purchase $15 within a two-mile radius. All major credit cards.