RESTAURANT REVIEW : Jerry’s Deli . . . So Much Food, So Little Time : Restaurant-goers are stunned by the glut of edible stimulation, but the main show is still the clientele.

The newest Jerry’s Famous Deli in Marina del Rey is not quite as busy as, say, Las Vegas’ Circus Circus, but there is a similar disorienting confusion. Instead of the whirl and clang of slot machines, roulette wheels and circus acts, there is a sheer glut of visual and edible stimulation.

As soon as you step in the door you are immediately distracted by the deli takeout counter--its huge loaves of corn rye, pies, cheesecakes, stacks of brassy-colored smoked fish, rare beef roasts, chopped liver, sausages, salads.

Once you make it to the hostess, you are handed some the longest menus you’ve ever seen, then led to one of the many dining rooms--Jerry’s, it seems, goes on forever.

Sit in the main dining room and it may take a minute to get your bearings straight. Hundreds of colored kleig lights, footlights and spotlights shine; the walls hold countless show posters. Televisions are hung in every room so virtually every seated customer can keep an eye on the ballgame.

But the ongoing show, of course, is the clientele. There are pretty young things out on dates and ancient mariners with their wind-burnt faces and captain’s caps. There are nightly noshers and big, loud tables and the lone single person reading the newspaper alone at the counter over a bowl of borscht. Grandmothers, jocks, businessmen and surfers eat side by side. There are novels that are shorter than Jerry’s main menu, which is as tall as a newspaper and has some eight columns with 60 or 70 items per column. And if you can’t find anything on the main menu, you might try looking at the auxiliary menu, which lists pizza and pasta.

Panic is the first response to all this choice. I know that maturity is the ability to make decisions; the problem is that at Jerry’s we’re all about 6 years old. We want everything we see.

Is it any surprise that Jerry’s portions are as abundant as everything else? The pizzas are heavily laden--no designer’s artful, finicky hand in this pie. But this is not always good: On the Greek pizza, for instance, even an anchovy lover such as myself would have preferred fewer fish so that something else--the mozzarella or feta cheese, the Greek olives, spinach, tomatoes or onions--could be tasted. The California pizza had tons of roasted vegetables under tons of melted cheese. Two pieces of either pie call for a loosened belt.

Traditional deli items are equally robust and plentiful. While I prefer the potatoes in my potato pancakes grated rather than minced, I have to admit that Jerry’s minced-potato pancakes have a lot of flavor and crunch. For the best all-starch appetizer, stick with the potato knish--good flavorful potato in a light, flaky bun.

Chicken liver is oniony and great on toasted corn rye. The lox, while pricey, is cut to order and particularly pleasurable.

The sandwiches I ate were enormous--and I didn’t even try one of the triple-deckers! A tuna melt at its thickest point is a nearly four-inch wide wedge that structurally is a challenge to eat. The hot brisket sandwich is more manageable.

If chicken soup can cure the common cold, Jerry’s boiled-chicken-in-a-pot ought to easily vanquish pneumonia. The pot contains approximately what my grandmother used to budget for a family of four: half a meaty chicken, a grapefruit-sized matzo ball, one beef-filled kreplach, a thatch of good fine egg noodles, carrots and chicken broth.

If a heartier stew is what you’re after, there’s the mushroom, barley and bean soup, which can be served with a hunk of tender, incredibly good short-rib flanken. I ate as much as I possibly could--about a quarter of the dish. It is with terror that I contemplate the day’s work that could build up an appetite capable of dispatching such a meal in its entirety.

And oh, what we didn’t eat! No knockwurst, no Romanian skirt steak, no roasted duck or strudel, no pizza-crust salad, no kasha varnishkas , matzo brei or chicken fajitas in pita. No Luc French Poutine--fries topped with mozzarella and gravy.

We did sample some bad, leathery tapioca. And some good cheesecake topped with some not-so-impressive cooked blueberries.

The service staffers are capable, cheerful and physically strong--they have to be to lug Jerry’s huge plates around. Some nights the kitchen is a little slow, but invariably you get what you ask for at Jerry’s . . . usually, far more of it than you really want.

Jerry’s Famous Deli, 13181 Mindanao Way, Marina del Rey, (310) 821-6626. Other locations in Studio City, Encino and the Beverly Center. Open seven days, 24 hours. Full bar. Parking in lot. American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $16 to $57.