In Hollywood, the late, late show

IN L.A., we keep farmers’ hours, early to bed, early to rise. By 6 a.m., joggers are fanning out all over the city, their breath puffing white in the early morning chill. A convertible slides by, top down, the driver carrying on a one-sided conversation with his mobile earpiece. By 9 p.m., it sometimes feels as if the entire city is snoozing beneath the blue glow of television screens. Restaurants are emptying out. Cooks are wiping down the stoves before heading home.

New Yorkers used to waltzing into dinner at the finest restaurants at 10 or 11 or even later have lamented that you can’t seem to get a bite to eat after 10 in L.A. And by that, they don’t mean Pink’s or Tommy’s. But maybe that’s changing. These days in Hollywood, a fleet of newish restaurants and lounges, including Geisha House, Memphis, Citizen Smith and 25 Degrees, the burger bar in the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, are busy feeding the hip and the hungry into the wee hours. You can even get a prime steak at 2 in the morning on the Westside -- Pacific Dining Car’s Santa Monica branch is now open 24 hours, like the original one downtown.

One relative newcomer half a block east of Sunset and Vine keeps a late-night kitchen and a most-of-the-day kitchen too, staying open from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and till 2 a.m. on other days. That means when you wander out of a club or the late show at the ArcLight any night of the week bleary-eyed and ravenous, not to fret, you can always pop into Magnolia for a burger or a BLT.

The combination of good looks, reliably good (if not great) cooking and moderate prices at the 6-month-old Hollywood restaurant is one that’s almost impossible to find in L.A. A steak and frites will set you back only $26 -- not the $40 to $50 or more you’d pay at some of the more outrageous hipster steakhouses. Add in an energetic scene and a dose of fun, and it’s no surprise why Magnolia is packed day and night.

It’s not a destination restaurant in the sense that you’d go there planning to spend the entire evening, but that may be why it has so much energy. People are coming in, talking about the film or the play they’ve just seen, or the musicians they’re about to go hear. It’s primarily a young crowd, but not entirely so. The feeling is upbeat and energetic, night owls out on the town. There just aren’t many places like this that have authentic identity and pretty good food.

And there’s a real need for it in Hollywood. Magnolia is easygoing enough that you can stop in for an appetizer and a drink, dessert and coffee, or whatever else you have a hankering for without having to sign on for a full-on three-course meal.

The look is Modernist and spare, a little reminiscent of Grace, with its convex mirrors reflecting the dining room in miniature. At the front is a big bar, not too dark, where the sound of a cocktail shaker creates a percussive soundtrack.

The dining room is up a couple of steps, a skinny, relatively small space -- basically one long banquette with tables lined up on the other side. Tables are dark wood, no tablecloths and the happy clamor of the bar spills over into the dining room. There’s also a low table with comfy seats around it, meant for drinks, but lately it seems to be doing double duty as a companionable communal table.

If you want quiet, head down the corridor to the back patio, with high walls and heating lamps. It hardly feels like the outdoors, but this is where the more retiring sorts -- and the smokers -- are.

*

Classic appetizers

MAGNOLIA’S forte is perfectly decent American that’s appealing day in day out, early or late. Good thing too, because Magnolia serves the same menu at lunch, dinner and through the very late hours. That means -- you could probably recite the menu right along with me without ever having seen it -- fried calamari, macaroni and cheese, ahi tuna tartare, shrimp cocktail and more in the same vein.

The mac ‘n’ cheese is just fine, the pasta slightly al dente, the cheese not quite the Kraft of our childhoods, but something very close. Fried calamari isn’t at all greasy, and you find yourself reaching for the satisfying crunch of the crisp tentacles to dip in either a lemon-drenched aioli that’s very easy on the garlic or a traditional marinara. Shrimp cocktail comes chilled or with the rosy crustaceans grilled and livened up with a spicy rub. The shrimp are fresh and firm, but not particularly flavorful -- just like the ones all of us have encountered numerous times at countless restaurants.

There are a couple of surprises, though, with an ethnic bent, like the creamy hummus served with briny green and purple olives and some baked pita, which could easily do double duty as a bar snack. Or the chicken and beef satays, thin strips of meat threaded onto skewers and grilled and presented with a rather tame Southeast Asian-inspired dipping sauce. I leave the crab and Brie quesadilla with mango salsa to hard-core experimentalists. Too many awful panini or baked Brie for breakfast on offer at twee bed-and-breakfasts have taught me, as if I didn’t already know, that industrial-strength Brie should not be baked or griddled or warmed. It starts to taste like soap.

A taste for salads is practically hard-wired into Californians’ DNA. And at Magnolia, chef Cody Diegel feeds the habit with eight offerings, from a simple iceberg wedge draped in pungent blue cheese dressing to a more substantial grilled steak salad with earthy greens, tomatoes and a punchy bacon-horseradish dressing. In between is an acceptable modified Caesar salad. Shaved instead of grated Parmesan, though, is no improvement since the cheese never quite gets integrated into the dressing.

For beet lovers -- and you know who you are -- they’ve got a salad made with standard ruby and gold beets (not heirloom babies from the farmers market), spring asparagus and fresh California goat cheese in a sharp mustard vinaigrette.

But my vote goes to the Cobb salad with all the usual elements, including good bacon, avocado, chicken and blue cheese. Cobb salads are everywhere, but most are mediocre. Dried-out chicken, tasteless bacon and tired greens are the main faults. But Magnolia’s kitchen avoids all these pitfalls and comes in with a fresh and tasty version, the chicken still moist, the bacon smoky and crisp. After a late night on the town, this could be just the thing to fuel the rest of the evening.

Of course, you can also find a beef or turkey Magnolia burger for $11, a dollar or two more for cheese and/or bacon. Plump and juicy, the patty sits on a soft sesame seed bun. It’s fine, probably better than most (but doesn’t begin to give the sirloin burger at 25 Degrees a run for the money). A BLT is welcome fuel late at night too, and Magnolia’s adds avocado to the fat red tomatoes and smoky bacon. The tomatoes could have more flavor, but it isn’t really the season yet.

Avoid the fancier sounding dishes such as lobster ravioli, and you’ll do fine. The kitchen even manages to turn out an excellent Bolognese sauce made with hand-chopped veal and pork, delicious on a plate of rigatoni pasta. You can’t go wrong with roasted free-range organic chicken, which comes with creamy mashed potatoes that actually taste freshly made. The broccolini that comes with it, though, deals some serious garlic breath.

Seafood choices are pretty basic and boring: grilled salmon with asparagus and mashed potatoes, say, but at least the salmon is wild and it’s nicely cooked. Seared ahi tuna is also well-executed, and has the bonus of mashed potatoes dosed with a jolt of wasabi.

The one-page wine list, I’m afraid, is a snore for anybody who knows anything about wine. But if you crave a glass of oaky Chardonnay or an overpriced Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, they’ve certainly got it. Cocktails are more the thing at Magnolia, and they’re good.

*

Ice cream party

THE dessert of the moment at Magnolia is an ice cream sandwich. Make that a huge ice cream sandwich. When it sails by on its way to some table or other, lustful eyes follow its progress. What is it about ice cream sandwiches that seems to bring out the kid in everybody? But order one, and you’ll get a massive slab of cloyingly sweet mint chocolate chip ice cream that overshadows the two crisp chocolate cookies. As for the rest of the dessert menu, if you’re dying for a textbook creme brulee or a slice of New York-style cheesecake, go for it, but neither is anything special. I’d save my calories.

Despite Magnolia’s hip quotient, the waiters are all incredibly nice. They may be actors in waiting, but they’re doing their best to deliver food on time and make sure a pleasant experience is had by all.

*

Magnolia

Rating: *

Location: 6266 1/2 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 467-0660; www.magnoliahollywood.com.

Ambience: Updated American diner food in an inviting Modernist boite with bar up front and a small, cozy dining room. Open nightly till the wee hours, it’s the fallback position for a late burger or grilled skirt steak. You want quiet (or something closer thereto)? Ask for a table on the diminutive back patio.

Service: Wry but attentive, from actors who understand what’s involved in the role.

Price: Appetizers, $8 to $12; salads, $7 to $12; sandwiches, $8 to $12; main courses, $14 to $30; sides, $6; desserts, $7 to $8.

Best dishes: Grilled artichoke with citrus aioli, baked macaroni and cheese, fried calamari, iceberg wedge, Cobb salad, Magnolia burger, rigatoni with Bolognese sauce, marinated skirt steak, ice cream sandwich.

Wine list: Serviceable one-page list won’t turn anybody into a wine lover. Corkage, $20.

Best table: One at the back of the long, narrow dining room.

Details: Open from 11 to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday, from 10 to 2 a.m. Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking, $4.50. Takeout available.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.