RESTAURANTS / MAX JACOBSON : Small Spots Cook Morning, Noon and Night

Our small restaurants don’t get quite as much exposure as they deserve, despite the valiant efforts put forth on our Neighborhood Eatery page. There simply are too many of them. Perhaps this mixed bag of mini-reviews--three for the price of one--will help bring things up to proper speed. I plan to write a column like this one every couple of months, and I welcome any suggestions readers might have.

* THE FRONT PORCH

1155 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach

(714) 494-2322

7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Cash only

Everyone knows Laguna Beach as an artists’ colony and a place for good breakfast. On the second score, things just got better.

The Front Porch is a new haunt on North Coast Highway in north Laguna that gives Cafe Zinc a run for the money as the best breakfast spot in town. Talented Roseanne Ruiz, onetime chef at Sorrento Grill (and now executive chef at Costa Mesa’s Mondavi Food and Wine Center), consulted on this pint-sized but attractive menu, and a woman named Kim Chan, once with the Il Fornaio chain, is responsible for the good muffins and pastries.

Start off with one of the best cappuccinos in town or a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice before proceeding to such delights as dense, homemade granola with an assortment of fresh berries; poached eggs with toppings as diverse as smoked salmon with dilled creme fraiche or prosciutto and tomato basil relish; and buttery scones served with hand-whipped cream. The good toast, made from levain (sourdough) bread, comes with exotic huckleberry preserves made by a woman named Eva Gates in Bigfork, Mont. You can take a jar home, too.

Lunchtime here is devoted to salads and sandwiches, most of which sparkle with originality. Garden salad is made with mixed organic lettuces and has a Maytag blue cheese dressing or a balsamic vinaigrette. The best sandwich for my money is the grilled mozzarella with tapenade and arugula, an unbeatable combination of pungent, sweet and smoky. And if you’re lucky, there will be slices of Chan’s dark, intense, old-fashioned chocolate cake on hand, just to tempt you.

* EL COMPADRE

6068 Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park

(714) 994-2140

8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; till midnight Fridays and Saturdays

Cash only

One of the things about El Compadre that stands out is its location in Buena Park: The modest, old-fashioned cafe sits hard by a modern stretch of glass and steel buildings. A venerable institution, it has stood its ground for more than 20 years. Think it would still be here if the food weren’t good?

You certainly don’t come to El Compadre for the atmosphere. It’s one of those dimly lighted stucco adobes full of blankets, sombreros and mystery, where down-home Mexican foods such as carnitas and menudo rule.

Try the intense mole, a piquant, chocolate-based sauce traditionally served with chicken, or the unusual carne de puerco con calabacitas --chunks of pork stewed with pumpkin. Lovers of seafood can have a field day with seafood cocktails made with abalone or oysters and octopus, or with a dish such as bagre a la Veracruzana, deep-fried, crisp-skinned catfish in a heady sauce of olives, tomatoes, peppers and onions.

The less adventurous should find something on this 102-item menu to content themselves, from good combination plates to overstuffed burritos and fat corn sopes. Almost everything comes with mounds of fluffy rice and a plateful of overcooked beans, and the homemade tortillas are always hot and fresh.

Look for good Mexican soft drinks ( aguas frescas ) to wash everything down. Horchata is a milk-white rice beverage flavored with cinnamon and sugar. Tamarindo is an addictive, sweet-sour beverage made from tamarind and served ice cold.

* MIKOSHI

955 Birch, in the Brea Marketplace, Brea

(714) 255-9456

10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; till midnight Fridays and Saturdays

Cash only

Mikoshi Japanese Noodle House, a spotless cafe filled with white pine tables, is a misguided attempt by a large corporation (Japan’s huge MOS Burger) to bring Japanese fast food to the American consumer.

The restaurant specializes in ramen and soba, long, skinny noodles made, respectively, from wheat and buckwheat flour. Ramen comes in soup form; soba are grilled with a variety of toppings.

The main problem here is credibility. In Japan, ramen and soba are far more common than sushi; Japanese eat them religiously in bold soup stocks ( dashi ) flavored with dried fish, mushrooms and seaweeds or griddled with a Worcestershire-like sauce. The bland imitations served here bear almost no resemblance to the real thing.

At least the price is right. This is cheap, filling fare--between $3.95 and $4.35 for most of the dishes--and the portions are generous.

Mikoshi ramen is supposedly a miso (bean paste) soup with bean sprouts and scallions but this salty, murky broth is devoid of any particular flavor. Three-alarm ramen , in a spicy red broth with ground beef, is better.

Yakisoba (fried soba ) can be had with sugary, sesame-studded teriyaki chicken and a side salad topped with a sticky sweet Oriental dressing, a dish that rates to be a killer--for kids under 10. Adults can fire these foods up with shichimi (“seven spices”), a condiment made from black sesame, orange peel, chili powder, ginger and other ingredients. It is the one immutably Japanese thing in this restaurant, and the only real sign of life.