CHINESE FOOD IN A NUTSHELL.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

After a couple of visits to Chi's, a new little Chinese cafe in Northridge, a diner is left with a couple of distinct impressions.

One is that the food is extremely light and fluffy.

And second, Chi's kitchen is having a love affair with peanut butter.

There are other good things about the place: nonoily cooking and the option of small portions on many of the entrees. The menu also includes 18 dim sum and appetizer choices - possibly the largest regular dim sum selection in the San Fernando Valley.

They're very reasonably priced. Most are $2, some are $3 and only the sliced barbecued pork and trio of barbecued spareribs are $4 per order.

The hot dim sum item here, though, is undoubtedly the peanut butter potstickers (six for $3), wonderfully feathery light chicken stuffed dumplings served with a mildly peppery peanut butter sauce. If you like a touch of fire in your spicy food, tell the waitress you can stand the heat and they'll arrive with enough kick to satisfy, not enough to scorch.

Incidentally, if you want the solo sweet dim sum item, a couple of nicely executed sticky rice sesame balls filled with a sweet red bean paste ($2), order them when you first sit down, because they can take up to 50 minutes - according to how busy the kitchen is - to prepare.

As for the peanut butter passion, Chi's tofu salad ($3.25) with lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts and crispy noodles comes tossed with peanut butter dressing. And the dan dan mein ($4.55) turns out to be tasty noodles tossed in what is touted as a hot spicy peanut butter sauce, but is really either medium or mild, according to your tolerance, but certainly not spicy hot.

Any of the several dumpling dim sum dishes deserve attention. Both the shrimp har gow and pork and mushroom siu mai ($2 each) are delicate delights.

You won't find better renditions of either a scallion pancake ($2) or shrimp rolls ($2). And the bao (steamed buns), either with pork or chicken, provide another couple of alluring small bites, as does the rectangular turnip cakes flecked with lop chong and dried shrimp ($2).

An order of spare ribs ($4) brings forth a trio of them, definitely zippy in flavor, but inconsistent in meatiness.

The only soup tried, hot and sour ($2 or $5) was neither spicy nor vinegary - and not a bad soup, actually - but certainly a long way from the familiar peppery piquant potage we're used to.

Yet the kitchen excels in such entree efforts as white meat chicken in a perfectly wrought black bean sauce ($7), an enticing pairing of shredded pork and tofu ($4.25 or $7), a heaping dish of marinated and slow-roasted duck ($8) and a satisfying presentation of crunchy shrimp with green pepper and onion in a lilting garlicky sauce ($6 or $9).

For accompaniments, there's a texture treat in a Singapore curry mi-fun noodle ($6) recipe made with ultra-thin rice noodles flavored with a touch of yellow curry and tossed with shrimp, bean sprouts and bits of barbecued pork and onion; also a dryish version of garlicky, gingery sauteed string beans.

On the beverage side, Chi's doesn't have an alcohol license, but there nothing wrong with its complimentary green tea, constantly replenished.

And if you're in the mood for a sweet ending other than the free fortune cookies or the slightly intimidating sesame seed crusted rice balls, crunchy, sugary chocolate almond cookies can be had in pairs for $1.25.

And after a full meal of many dishes, the nice thing about Chi's is that you still won't feel overstuffed.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Chi's.

Where: 9635 Reseda Blvd., Northridge.

When: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and for dinner from 3 to 9:30 p.m. daily.

Recommended items: Har gow, siu mai, charsiu bao, peanut butter dumplings, turnip cakes, potstickers, shrimp rolls, scallion pancake, barbecued pork, sesame balls, pepper black bean chicken, roast duck, tofu with pork, garlic shrimp, sauteed string beans, Singapore curry mi-fun, dan dan mein, chocolate almond cookies.

How much: Dim sum and appetizers from $2 to $4, entrees from $4.25 to $11, desserts $1.25 and $2. No alcohol. MC, V, Discover.

Reservations: Taken for parties of five or more. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three and One Half Stars for food; Three Stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) Above, waitress Kelly Ung, left, and owner Chi Poon show off some of the dishes available at Chi's in Northridge. Below, the shrimp har gow is among the dim sum choices.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News