DINING OUT: TASTE EL SALVADOR AT RESTAURANTE MORAZAN : THE FACTS.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

Though the kitchen will gladly make you a Mexican-style burrito or taco, even a tostada or quesadilla Mexicana, the best reason to visit Restaurante Morazan in Van Nuys is for its Salvadoran specialties.

A clean little cafe decorated with real and faux brick, mirrors and cream-toned floor tile, Morazan is the kind of place where you may enjoy a tabletop laden with small bites, commonly termed antojitos, rather than bothering with entree-size dishes.

At a first visit, by the time we munched on four different types of pupusas - the pupusa being a circular, ground corn pancake stuffed with beans, pork or cheese or any combination of the three - plus several other little goodies and a bowl of soup, there was no room left for main courses.

The pupusas, thick and round cornmeal puffs, range from $1.40 to $1.60 each and are quite filling, largely because they're not light and feathery.

Also, they come with a jar of ``curtido,'' a spicy pickled cabbage condiment that could be called ``Salvadoran sauerkraut.''

You help yourself to as much as you want, so even one pupusa stuffed with beans and melted cheese tends to quickly satisfy.

Salvadorans also like their cheese boosted with ``loroco,'' an herblike flower with subtle flavoring. Morazan's kitchen will happily put it in your pupusa if you wish.

And if you want a slightly different pupusa, they're also made here with rice flour ($1.60). Ask for ``pupusa de harina de arroz.''

Actually, it pays to know a little Spanish at this restaurant. Unless the English-speaking manager is present, you may end up getting things slightly askew. For instance, one day we requested two different pupusas and a pork tamal as starters, later ordering three entrees with a variety of accompaniments (the menu allows three choices from a list of eight options). Yet we received the entrees first, each plate adorned with rice, refried beans and slaw-style salad, none of the other. Later came pupusas. And finally after all else was finished, along came an order of two pork tamals.

Fanciers of Mexican tamales will notice that the Salvadoran tamals differs from those of Mexico.

Here, the texture is much softer, and when they're stuffed with pork, for instance, the meat is chunky and sometimes still attached to bones. Occasionally, pieces of potato and garbanzo beans add to the filling.

You'll like Morazan's corn tamal. Wrapped in a banana leaf, steamed, served with sour cream, and called ``tamal de elote con crema'' ($2.75 for two), it possesses an impressively palatable smoothness and moistness.

And like the pork version, when studded with chicken, as in the ``tamal de gallina'' ($1.35), the meat chunks give it an extra dimension.

An enchilada ($2.50) here is also different. It's a round, crispy tortilla usually topped with lettuce, cheese and beans, more Guatamalan in style than Mexican.

And Morazan's pastelitos ($3.25 for three) are the traditional type of small, pielike envelopes made with ground corn and stuffed with a seasoned, finely chopped meat mixture, usually pork.

The soups though, tend to be of mixed heritage. Shrimp soup ($5.50) was actually a well-executed vegetable soup with a handful (five) of unshelled shrimp tossed in. Consequently, the shrimp were still good and crunchy, and the soup's flavors were barely changed after the shrimp's introduction.

A listing of 20 main-course plates include a number of meaty possibilities, including a stewed short ribs ``costilla guisada'' dish ($6), several untried beef and pork items and a heaping, tasty offering of moist chicken topped with onions and peppers called ``pollo encebollado'' ($6.50).

Even the Salvadoran chile relleno ($6) is stuffed with meat rather than cheese. And its thick-textured red sauce is absolutely delicious.

We really didn't forget about trying a sweet dish here. There just was so much food, never leaving room for anything more than a glass of a refreshing, cold, sugary, tamarindo soft drink.

The restaurant: Restaurante Morazan.

Where: 15706 Vanowen St., Van Nuys.

When: Open continuously for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily; until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Recommended items: Pupusas with various fillings (cheese, beans, loroco herb, pork), chicken or pork tamals, pastelitos, enchiladas, pollo ecebollado, chile relleno, tamarindo drink.

How much: Starters from $1.35 to $4, entrees from $5.50 to $7.50, dessert $3 and $3.50. No alcohol. Cash only.

Reservations: Not taken. Information or takeout: [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; two stars for service; three and 1/2 stars for value.

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Photo: After munching on pupusas and other flavorful ethnic fare at Restaurante Morazan in Van Nuys, you may be too full for a main course.

Phil McCarten/Daily News