A Layered Look : The Original Swedish Sandwich Cake in Lake Forest piles it on with eccentric, delicious creations from the Old World

In the elegant Gustaf Anders Restaurant, Orange County has the best Swedish restaurant on the West Coast. The Original Swedish Sandwich Cake in Lake Forest wouldn’t challenge the title, but for sheer eccentricity, this strip-mall sandwich shop literally takes the cake.

The restaurant is equipped with a deli counter, three wooden tables and a scattering of plastic pedestals bearing tiny Swedish flags. Chef Anders Ericson works behind the counter, in a space no bigger than Pippi Longstocking’s closet. It may not be much, but it is big enough for him in which to create the eponymous sandwich cakes, edible works of art that must be ordered 24 hours in advance.

A sandwich cake is a big commitment--it serves anywhere from six to 20 people. You might prefer to test the waters by sampling one of chef Ericson’s open-faced Swedish sandwiches. The Swedish term for sandwiches is “smorgas,� a word you you probably recognize from “smorgasbord,� which literally means sandwich table.

What’s incredible about these open-faced sandwiches are how labor-intensive they are. Watch Ericson assemble his Swedish meatball sandwich (kottbullar, on the menu), for instance, and you’d swear you were at a Lego competition. First he takes a long piece of dark rye bread and lays on a thick spread of a creamy red-beet salad. Then he carefully layers on thinly sliced Swedish dill pickles, slices of homemade meatballs and bits of roasted onion. The result, served cold, is delicious.

The meatball is actually one of four open-faced sandwiches served here. (Not surprisingly, all four take considerable time to prepare.) My personal favorite is curryrakor, a mayonnaise-rich curried shrimp sandwich on a rectangle of white toast, topped with avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and a light squeeze of lemon juice.

Gravad lax is made with slices of the now justly famous cured salmon, piled up on white toast with a layer of cream cheese, cucumber slices and a drizzle of rather sweet Swedish mustard sauce. The fourth choice is rokt lax. For this very Swedish treat, buttery smooth smoked salmon is layered on rye smeared with egg salad. (At one time, there was a fifth sandwich, made with Swedish anchovies and sliced boiled egg. Ericson says when he finds real Swedish anchovies that satisfy him, he will put it back on the menu.)

But these are just palate-teasers, mere bagatelles compared with the real specialty here. Turn the menu over and you’ll see a fax or phone order form for the sandwich cakes. They come in recommended ingredient combinations, but can also be custom-ordered, like pizzas.

Pick your size and fillings, plus choice of bread: regular white or five-grain. The cakes are assembled on crustless rounds of yeasty bread baked to Ericson’s order, and all of them stand well over a foot tall. The smallest, which serves six to eight, is 8 inches across. The largest one, for 16 to 20, is a whopping 14 inches.

The idea is to cut wedges out of this colossal Dagwood sandwich just as you would do with a layer cake. One piece should be sufficient, unless you have the appetite of a Swedish lumberjack. This is cocktail party food extraordinaire, a real conversation-stopper.

Six of us went for Lox Good, the one the chef described as his most Swedish. It’s five layers of alternating smoked salmon and egg salad fillings. The outside is spread with sour cream and then completely covered with thinly sliced cucumbers, olives and pimentos, giving it the look of an edible Christmas ornament.

A few other Ericson sandwich cake creations are Birdie Nam-Nam (chicken salad, turkey and ham), Viva Italia (salami, roasted peppers, olives and cream cheese) and Veg Wacker (dried tomatoes, olives, cheese and fruit). You can also span the globe with ingredients ranging from smoked fish paste (called “Swedish kaviar�) to bacon bits, pineapple, cilantro and roast beef with horseradish sauce. Whew!

Ericson keeps a few side dishes around to eat with his sandwiches or sandwich cakes. One is marinated olives “cote d’Azur�--canned black olives pepped up considerably with garlic, oregano, parsley and olive oil. Another is a bright yellow potato salad made with apples and celery. It is adapted, Ericson’s menu tells us, from a recipe used by the well-known Swedish department store Valskogs Handel. He could have said Ikea, but what would we know?

BE THERE

The Original Swedish Sandwich

Cake, 20651 Lake Forest Drive, Lake Forest. (714) 462-3292. Open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Parking lot. No alcohol. American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Takeout. Lunch for two, $12-$15.

What to get: Swedish open sandwiches, $4.30-$4.70; potato salad, $3.40 per pound; sandwich cakes, $29-$60.