ENCINO'S HOT SPOT FOR CHILI.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

Just about every bottle of commercial chile sauce known to man - or at least available in this country - seems to be displayed on a table for sampling purposes near the counter at the new Chili My Soul in Encino.

And just about every type of chili you'd want to sample without getting too bizarre is produced at this chili eaters' paradise of a place, actually a tiny storefront fast-food cafe with a large chili-making kitchen in the rear.

The chili of Chili My Soul is hardly new. It's been available through caterers and restaurants for several years, and it won a first-place award for Jinky's in Sherman Oaks in March 1997 when the Daily News readership helped me pick the area's best chilis.

Chili chef-owner Randy Hoffman has developed 25 different chilis, some with beans, some without. He numbers their spicy heat power from 1 to 10.

He makes up eight for sale per day and has a chili hot line (818-386-9966) for customers to check on the flavors available daily as well as any specials.

He uses beef, turkey, chicken or pork for his meat chilis and has at least three meatless vegetable concoctions. He adds Irish whiskey to one recipe and Tecate Mexican beer to another.

Hoffman utilizes bacon in a couple of chilis, has mango coupled with a fiery habanero chicken chili, and puts lots of garlic into an alternative chicken mixture.

His Irish whiskey chili of ground beef and baby pinto beans also has Irish Red Rose potatoes in it.

One of his turkey chilis reveals baby corn as a key ingredient.

And there's a green (verde) pork chili made with a rich tomatillo broth.

And in a contemporary Asian-influenced chili called Fusion Pepper Beef, Hoffman blends in Szechwan peppercorns.

Thirty hours of cooking in a four-stage defatting process is what Hoffman claims culminates in both low-fat and low-salt chilis that are rich in flavor.

And you'll agree. These are never frou-frou chilis. They're definitely rich, baby. And never wimpy-mild, even the 2s (on the 1-to-10 scale).

Most are meaty mixtures, but Hoffman believes that vegetables can also have soul.

Unfortunately, vegetables lose quite a bit of their identity when they're cooked for a long time. And their textures may go, too.

But for those who decry meat, they won't get anything wishy-washy with a Chili My Soul recipe.

And it can be a bit of fun to pick out the toppings for vegetable chili, meat chili, or both.

Hoffman's list is pretty straightforward until he get into the pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips options.

But I must admit, his chicken barley chili with carrots, when mixed with pumpkin seeds and capers, comes out surprisingly palatable, though a few skips and jumps away from the chili norm.

There's also seasoned crispy tortilla chips served with each order, and the kitchen toasts up a fair version of garlic bread to aid in making a bowl of chili a more rounded meal.

As for those toppings (you may choose any three without paying extra) you'll find - in addition to capers and chocolate chips - onions (diced or green), a garden-style salsa, cheeses (Monterey Jack, Parmesan or cheddar) and full-fat or ``lite'' sour cream.

And there's more. Spiral-cut fries ($2.95) and a very large baked potato ($2.95) allow some nifty chili and spud combos that you can order for $5.95, or diners can buy the ingredients separately and experiment with separately purchased chili flavors (cup $4.50, bowl $6.95).

And if you want to eat it at home, ordering chili to go runs from $4.50 a half-pint to $52 a gallon.

Also there's a kosher knackwurst on a roll with chili, a sort of hot dog-and-chili twist that's a passable sandwich and preferable with the Santa Fe beef and pork mix chili.

If you like a cubelike beef chili rather than the usual shredded meat, I suggest the Santa Cruz red. My favorite so far, because I've yet to taste every possible flavor, is the Texas pride chili - a midrange 5 on the heat scale - with an obvious bacon flavor.

In the hotter types, I like the earthy Durango, a 7 on the heat scale, and the thick gunslinger, an 8.

Durango is made with smoked chipotle peppers, corn and chorizo and the gunslinger has bacon and baby pinto beans and no onions.

The demon (a 10) contains a half-dozen of the fieriest chile peppers grown around the globe. If it isn't hot enough to sear the entire interior of your body, you can add Dave's furnace-hot chile sauce out of a bottle from the table of sauces.

According to Hoffman, a couple of Peruvian tourists stopped by and did just that.

As for the chocolate chips, he says they go well in the hotter beef chilis, giving them a slight silky mole (pronounced mo-LAY) flavor.

And if summer isn't getting here quickly enough for you, rest assured, Chili My Soul can and will make any day a hot one.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Chili My Soul.

Where: 4928 Balboa Blvd., Encino.

Phone: [phone].

When: Open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Recommended items: Chili folded in lavash; baked potato with chili; soul fries with chili; and chicken barley, Durango, gunslinger, poblano turkey, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz red and Texas pride chili.

How much: Cup $4.50, bowl $6.95. Takeout prices: half-pint $4.50, pint $7.50, quart $13.95, gallon $52.

Our rating: Three and One Half Stars for food.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Jodi Hortze, left, and Randy Hoffman serve up the spicy stuff at Chili My Soul in Encino. The restaurant offers eight varieties of chili per day.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News