Michelle Huneven’s Picks

Alto Palato

Among the many reasons I go to Alto Palato are: a roomy, civilized dining room with sky-high ceilings, gracious service, thin-crusted anchovy pizza, buttery zucchini pasta. Best of all is the gelato , which rivals Romoli’s in Rome: Sometimes I stop in for a bowl at the bar or a traveling cup-to-go--hazelnut, usually.

755 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 657-9271; entrees, $12.50-$19.95

Sanamluang Cafe

For many years now, my source for salvific chicken soup has been the Sanamluang Cafe on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Kingsley Drive: crystalline broth, flecks of fried garlic and a moist, steamed bird nesting on thick rice noodles and bean sprouts has stanched many a misery. Vegetarian rad na , goong prik paow or shrimp in hot chile oil, duck salad and fried rice biscuits cure other hungers.

5176 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 660-8006; entrees, $3.95 to $5.75.

Say Cheese

The cafe side of the Silver Lake cheese store, Say Cheese, sells sandwiches, salads and coffeehouse beverages--the kitchen is just that teeny space behind the dessert counter. But top-quality ingredients finesse these limitations: try the sublime tuna salad, or “The Tuscany” sandwich--prosciutto and butter on thinly sliced La Brea Bakery rosemary bread. The smoked trout salad rocks on diet days. Better yet: a French cheese plate, a good friend, a tete - a - tete.

2800 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 665-0545; sandwiches, $5.75 to $8.95.

Campanile

While the entrees at Campanile are rife with virtues, I tend to order multiple smaller plates of the great seasonal cooking (salads, risotto, pasta, soups) and Nancy Silverton’s imaginative, intellectual desserts. Whenever I have a really, really bad meal at another restaurant, sometimes the only thing that consoles me is a fresh date tart haloed in spun sugar, or creme fraiche ice cream with stewed huckleberries or mulberries.

624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 938-1447; appetizers, $6.50 to $10; desserts, $5 to $7.50.

Pasadena Cafeteria

Here, without apologies, is the food of my childhood: jewel-like jello, frozen vegetables, macaroni and cheese, big old hunks of meat, fruit pies, all at prices so low you can run out of room on the tray before you’ll run up a $10 tab. Some days, when I can’t handle Old Town or any other trendy thing, or I have a craving for Boston cream pie, or there’s a group of us from church, the Pasadena Cafeteria or its sister establishment, Beadle’s, beckons.

329 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (818) 792-9902; entrees, $2.20 to $7.45.

Chu’s Mandarin Cuisine

In a huge Taiwanese mall full of knockout restaurants, I’ve bonded with Chu’s, a bright, family-friendly Mandarin cafe. From the photograph on the wall and the menus, one sees that the great moment in Mr. Chu’s life was meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger; but I’ve had multiple great moments in my life eating Chu’s cooking, specifically the vegetarian steamed dumplings stuffed with tofu and mustard greens, pea sprouts sauteed with garlic and black bean sauce, green beans braised with crumbled pork and, of course, Chu’s long, springy hand-pulled noodles.

San Gabriel Valley Mall, 140 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, (818) 572-6574; dishes, $5 to $14.95.

Il Pastaio

In the ‘90s, resourceful chef-owners are creating small, casual, moderately franchise-able cafes. My favorite of these clone-ables is Celestino Drago’s Il Pastaio (one in Beverly Hills, one in Pasadena, so far), where there are starters, pasta and risotto--no pizza, no secondi. I eat the swordfish carpaccio with blood oranges, a goat cheese and roasted pepper salad straight from the Mediterranean, and garganelli, a lip-like, porous and chewy pasta that holds an amatriciana sauce like no other. As for risotto, it’s an impossible call between the granite-colored squid-ink risotto with fresh seafood or the custardy, grass-green spinach and peas risotto.

400 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 205-5444 , and 141 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena, (818) 795-4006; entrees, $8 to $12.50.