RESTAURANTS : SEALED WITH A <i> BIZOU</i> : Everybody Loves a Bargain, but When the Food Is Also Delicious and French--Voila!

A few months ago, I was eating at an Italian restaurant in West Los Angeles when the man sitting next to me on the banquette pulled out a worn piece of paper, folded and refolded so many times it threatened to disintegrate. It was a list of his favorite restaurants, written in a minute hand. Waving a penlight over it, he triumphantly gave me the name of an obscure restaurant outside Verona. I thought of a friend who, just in case he happens to be in Hong Kong unexpectedly, carries in his wallet scraps of paper with the names of a special squab restaurant, an exclusive dim sum place, a seafood restaurant, all written in Chinese. I’ve got my scribbled list, too, and before I set off on a journey, my first order of business is to update it. Five minutes’ research will get anyone the names of a city’s top restaurants, but the names of unassuming little places where you can eat well for practically nothing? These are the restaurants to collect. Like the ordinary-looking little bar in an unchic part of Paris where the patron cooks a few old-fashioned, braised dishes just three nights a week. Or the trattoria just behind a tiny grocery store that fries farm chicken in extra-virgin olive oil somewhere in the Tuscan countryside. Or closer to home, places like Bombay Cafe, Marouch or the original Cafe Blanc.

I’ve just added a new entry to my list: Cafe Bizou in Sherman Oaks. The setting, a storefront on Ventura Boulevard, couldn’t be more modest. But the two proprietors, Neil Rogers and Philippe Gris, have created such a wonderfully appealing French restaurant, you may be inspired to give one or both a little bizou , or kiss. Never mind the stark white room, the industrial carpeting, the wobbly tables; everyone is having a great time.

One Friday night, we squeeze past tables of six, eight, 10--birthday celebrations, anniversaries, friends’ night out. I can’t help noticing there’s wine on every table, very good wine; so much for the notion that people don’t drink anymore. In fact, the cafe doesn’t have a wine and beer license, so the policy is BYOB. And there’s no corkage fee.

The one-page menu lists half a dozen appetizers, 10 or so main courses. This is not a restaurant where the dishes change every few days or even every few weeks. The young Welsh chef, Rogers, who worked with his French partner, maitre d’ Gris, at the now-closed Cafe Katsu in West Los Angeles for eight years, has brought most of the menu he cooked there with him. He’s just lowered the prices.

The night’s special is a whole Maine lobster that looks so extravagant and enticing as it sails by, all of us want to order it. At the next table, a couple of self-styled gourmets scarf down the last bites of their first-course salad: rare duck breast served on an earthy bed of spinach and wild rice with a well-crafted Port sauce. They’re just as enthusiastic about the main course. “They must have moisturized the chicken, it’s so succulent,” muses one. I look around the room, and I’ve rarely seen so many people digging into their food with such relish. “Everything was so good, I even ate the parsley!” reports my neighbor happily. “And at lunch, it’s even less expensive,” he confides. His friend is beside himself. Everybody loves a bargain, but when the food turns out to be better than imagined, it is heady stuff.

The engaging young partners are caught up in the same enthusiasm, still a little astonished that the place is full every night. Yet Rogers maintains a steady hand in the kitchen. Cafe Bizou is as reliable as a small Paris bistro where you can always count on the plat du jour. He enjoys making deep-flavored, somewhat old-fashioned sauces based on good stock, wine and, of course, butter. French light this is not. But from the way people are enjoying his food, they seem starved for this kind of sensible and delicious cooking.

As an appetizer, Rogers offers seared scallops on a bed of feathery greens strewn with a little diced tomato and the surprise of green melon. You can order a little pasta, too, black tagliarini in a light tomato sauce tossed with translucent shrimp and fired with a touch of hot pepper. Rogers plays with ravioli, too, stuffing the little pillows with chicken, ricotta and spinach or lobster and salmon and saucing them respectively with a creamy tomato or lobster sauce. Both versions are homey and delicious. Order any entree, and a dollar more buys a bowl of soup (a thick comforting carrot puree heavily laced with cream) or a perfectly nice dinner salad.

The lobster, laid out on a bed of black tagliarini tossed with tomato and basil leaves, is wonderful. So is the roasted pork tenderloin and steak au poivre , coated in pepper, cooked rare as ordered and presented with mashed potatoes and a peppered veal stock reduction.

I also like his salmon encrusted with sesame seeds, set on triangles of potato pancake in a red wine sauce. And the chicken breast, which sounds the least interesting of all, turns out to be one of the best dishes, perfectly cooked, paired with a sweet balsamic vinegar sauce, down-to-earth mashed potatoes and carrots. Desserts are plain and simple: a respectable tarte tatin on a wisp of crust and flourless chocolate cake, both served with a dollop of cream.

And when Philippe Gris comes around to the table, it’s not to strong-arm you with the tired rhetorical question, “Is everything fabulous?” It’s to see how it’s going. His accent gives away the fact that he’s from the outskirts of Paris, but if you ask, he’ll tell you “ J’adore , j’adore Los Angeles.” I think it’s going to be mutual.

Cafe Bizou, 14418 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 788-3536. Closed Mondays , and Saturday at lunch. Parking on the street and behind the restaurant. Dinner for two, food only , $28-$52. No corkage fee.