RESTAURANT REVIEW : All-American Cafe With the Hofbrau Touch

Sometimes it’s tough to get certain friends to join me for a meal because not all of them are adventurous eaters. And you know--once burned, twice shy.

Take my pal Robin. He’s your basic all-American boy, a nostalgic Wisconsinite whose idea of exotic is extra cheese on his Whopper. I made the mistake of taking him to a Thai restaurant once. All right, one mistake, but every time I invite him out now, he says, “Oh no, I’m not eating any of that raw Chinese stuff again.”

So I had to swear that he would be on safe ground at the North Hollywood branch of Chef’s Take Out, an all-American restaurant with a school cafeteria appeal. He still hesitated at the door, even when he saw the giant roast turkey through the glass. It gave me a cheap thrill.

The concept is straightforward enough. You’ve probably eaten at a Hofbrau, that vanishing breed of buffet-style restaurant where big slices of meat or humongous scoops of casserole, stuffing and steamed vegetables are heaped onto giant plastic plates. (Sam’s on Alameda Street is one of the few remaining in Los Angeles.) If you have, Chef’s Take Out will look familiar.

But there is an important difference. Chef’s is a mini-chain, and all this food is prepared in a large commissary at a remote location, then trucked in for serving at the three branches. That brings prices down and consistency up. Furthermore, everything on the menu is available in bulk takeout.

I finally got Robin inside. The North Hollywood location is spotless, one side a glassed-in buffet line, the other an array of high-walled booths with red vinyl banquettes. There’s plenty of brass and etched glass around to give the dining area a clubby appeal, and Robin liked the idea of being out of sight of the buffet line. The guy is constantly afraid that he is going to see something to make him lose his appetite when he dines with me.

Not to worry. The menu at Chef’s Take Out is as all-American as he is. I ordered him a turkey sandwich carved right off the bird, and he was so relieved when the server asked him whether he wanted it on white bread that he didn’t even ask for extra tomato.

Meanwhile, I was digging in to an order of crisp-skinned roast chicken, substituting an interesting herbal stuffing for Chef’s standard grainy mashed potatoes. Robin was delighted with his sandwich. The meat was juicy and a good mix of light and dark. He didn’t even complain that there was too much mayo.

The menu doesn’t end there, of course. On another visit, I had a large slice of tender prime rib at Las Vegas prices ($7.95 for a complete dinner), and found it just as good a cut as you can pay twice as much for in the area.

I can’t say I’ve been impressed by the ribs, though. The beef ribs are on the tough side, and the pork ribs can get awfully greasy. That would be OK if the barbecue sauce were better, but it isn’t. We’re talking the sweet, sticky type here, with no hotness or complexity whatsoever. And that goes double for the baked beans, which taste as if they have been marinated in the stuff.

Like any good Hofbrau, Chef’s Take Out offers a couple of casseroles. Pretend you’re at a real Hofbrau and ignore them. If you don’t, you’ll get a plateful of Hofbrau-style gluey, cheese-smothered macaroni or overcooked, soulless lasagna. But who comes to a cafeteria for lasagna, anyway?

Salads, which come with all dinners, are likewise uninspiring, the greens crisp but the dressings strictly industrial. You’ll want to make a trip to the baked potato bar for cheese, sour cream, salsa, chives and the usual toppings, which are especially fresh and good. Don’t fail to notice that the menu is chock full of items marked with little hearts, meaning that they have been approved for consumption by the American Heart Assn.

The heart group, however, won’t approve the dessert department, which consists of little more than a few Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars. There are lots of good drinks, though, such as Dr. Brown’s sodas and refreshing Koala Springs fruit drinks from Australia.

Suggested dishes: baked potato bar, $1.95; roast turkey sandwich, $3.69; one-half roast chicken dinner, $4.25; prime rib (available after 4 p.m.), $7.95.

Chef’s Take Out, 12411 Burbank Blvd . , North Hollywood, (818) 762-1592; 115 N. Victory Blvd . , Burbank, (818) 845-0953; and 7042 Sepulveda Blvd . , Van Nuys, (818) 782-9955. Lunch and dinner 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Beer and wine at North Hollywood and Burbank. Parking lot. MasterCard and Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$20.