RESTAURANTS : Bring a Hefty Appetite and Dancing Shoes

Opa! Papa Loizides is dancing up a storm in the main dining room at the Greek Corner in Huntington Beach, just as he does every Friday and Saturday night, accompanied by daughter Nicky, while recorded Greek music plays and Mama Loizides stands nearby clapping her hands and shouting “opa,” the Greek equivalent of “whoopie.” Since Mama does most of the cooking along with son Jimmy (Demetrious), don’t be too surprised if the kitchen occasionally runs on Greek Standard Time. If you are looking for precision, go to a Swiss restaurant.

It is an odd-looking restaurant, with barely a hint of Greek decor, save some white driftwood paneling that recalls sun-bleached village houses on primitive Adriatic islands, and an occasional patch of blue, the other Greek color. The main dining room is full of plush, half-moon-shaped booths; plants hang everywhere, just like a San Francisco singles bar. Dividing the space is a huge stairway, leading to a large, upstairs banquet room.

All meals at the Greek Corner begin with fresh bread and tzatzaki , an addictive appetizer made from yogurt, garlic, cucumber, mint and olive oil. Because dinners come with both soup and salad, cooler heads may not be tempted by mezethes , the little appetizers that Greeks love to eat (as an accompaniment to strong aperitifs like ouzo and mastica ). But, hey, a Greek restaurant is no place for a cool head. And it just so happens that the appetizers are wonderful. Opa!

Tiropita and spanakopita , bouzouki -shaped pastries filled with feta cheese and spinach respectively, are the best you will taste in this area--flaky, light and delicately layered. Keftethes , the tiny breaded meatballs fashioned with aromatic spices like allspice and cinnamon, explode with complexity when you bite into them. Dolmathes , a.k.a. stuffed grape leaves, have just the right ratio of rice to ground beef, and less pungency than most others I have tasted. Only fried calamari is a lemon; what I tasted was drier than Sparta in July.

After a good, lemony soup and a standard Greek salad (where the feta is mixed into the dressing rather than sitting on top of the greens in large chunks), the food gets really homey. Mrs. Loizides says she cooks exactly the way she learned from her mother, and nothing tastes remotely commercial.

The star dish here is kota psiti --merely baked chicken and the least expensive item on the small menu. Not only is this the best chicken I have had anywhere in the county, it is the best I have had in years. Mama Loizides marinates her chickens with lemon, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, and bakes them under a hot broiler, resulting in a skin crispier than a Maui potato chip, and meat that falls off the bone if the music so much as stops.

Family favorites like pastitso (a noodle casserole) and moussaka (an oven-baked eggplant casserole layered with spiced, ground beef) are soft and richly flavored, impossibly filling and as thick as a Kazantzakis novel. These hearty specialties are baked in giant pans, then cut into squares and doused with an olive oil-based tomato sauce and handfuls of grated cheese. It is rare that anyone finishes a helping, much less the stewed green beans and pan - roasted potatoes that accompany them. Is it any wonder that the Greeks are the world’s heaviest people? I hope you brought your dancing shoes.

Souvlaki , chunks of marinated, skewered lamb, is unremarkable, but at least the kitchen understands the concept of medium rare. Better is chicken souvlaki , with a pronounced tenderness not present in the lamb dish, and a more generous handful of spice in the marinade. Don’t bother with garides me tomatha , jumbo shrimp stuffed, head first, into a whole tomato with feta cheese. Maybe the dish adds variety to a small, limited menu, but it is hardly a village favorite. It looks more like something you would find at an Elks Club buffet.

I must confess the desserts here, even though homemade, are a letdown. They have almost no personality. Only kataifi (which looks like an oversize clump of shredded wheat) is successful, drenched in honey, with a crushed walnut filling. Baklava is impossible to cut, and galactoboureko , a mushy square of cream of wheat in a pastry crust, is served cold, robbing it of the little taste it has. Caramela , a custard topped with caramelized sugar, is blander yet, and even the Greek coffee is boring, despite being served in beautiful antique cups that have been in the family for generations. It is thin and overly sweet.

Prices are moderate. Appetizers are $2.95 to $4.95, with a special combination plate for $5.95 per person. Dinners are $10.50 to $17.95 (and are pleasurable in inverse proportion to price). There is a small selection of Greek wines, some of which taste like turpentine, and some of which don’t. Consult your waiter for details. THE GREEK CORNER

520 Main St., Huntington Beach

(714) 960-3212

Open for lunch and dinner seven days

All major cards accepted