MANILA EXTRACT IN GLENDALE BARRIO FIESTA OFFERS DELIGHTS IN NEW LOCALE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

At the peak of its 12 years on Sixth Street in Los Angeles, Barrio Fiesta was to many restaurant-goers the foremost Filipino eating place in the city.

When it closed in 1999, the absence of well-known Filipino restaurants quickly became apparent.

But by the end of that year, Barrio Fiesta had quietly resurfaced.

Now, with it once again firmly ensconced in reasonably attractive, spacious Glendale quarters, Filipino food can be enjoyed in a comfortable, tropical setting.

Bamboo abounds here. Waiters scurry around delivering, among other Spanish and Chinese-influenced exotica, steaming clay pots of kare-kare, a savory, Filipino meaty mixture, and dishes of pancit, the traditional Filipino noodle offerings.

The kitchen makes good, crunchy, ground pork-filled or vegetable-stuffed lumpia ($3.95 or $6.85) - the Filipino eggroll - and a specialty of the house called kenchi steak ($9.95), a hearty beef dish with vegetables and mushroom gravy featuring tender, well-cooked shin meat and a topping of bone marrow. Like many dishes here, though, this is hardly something for anyone with a cholesterol problem.

But beef isn't the only meat choice. Pork comes many ways at Barrio Fiesta.

I particularly like it diced, well seasoned and served nicely crisped with garlic and onions as an appetizer platter called Sisig a la Barrio ($7.65).

If you're a soup fancier, it's nothing less than heaven here.

You might be interested in the variety of sinigangs, Filipino sour soups of either meat (pork or beef) or seafood (shrimp, milkfish or catfish). These soups vary in the Philippines from professional chef to chef, from Filipino household to household, much like bouillabaisse in France or paella in Spain. All these soups have one or more sour fruits to give them their tart taste, usually with the addition of tomatoes and vegetables.

However, I like the more mainstream nilaga meat soup here, a fragrant broth crammed with cabbage and potatoes, especially the manok nilaga (chicken) version ($7.55).

It's huge and big enough to be shared as an entree dish by two normal appetites. So don't make the mistake I made and order it as a starter. It's way too much for that.

One day, in addition to a half-order of kare-kare (oxtail, tripe, beef and vegetables in peanut-flavored gravy, $8.95), a mixed seafood bowl called Bicol express ($10.60) - which derives its name from a province in southeastern Luzon and which actually should be spicier than the way it's served here, but tempered as it's supposed to be, by coconut milk - was thoroughly enjoyed.

And so was a delicious pork and shrimp pancit dish (pancit Bihon, $7.75) of thin rice noodles (note how Filipino cooks often mix meat and seafood together in one recipe) tossed with finely julienned vegetables.

The traditional dessert, halo-halo ($3.65 or $4.15) - literally, ``mix- mix'' - is certainly refreshing.

It resembles a parfait and contains shaved ice and coconut milk with crunchy fried rice grains, corn niblets, preserved fruit, mung beans and purple yam ice cream.

Halo-halo, eaten with a spoon though served in a glass like a milk shake, provides the perfect way to say goodbye at the end of a fulfilling meal when leaving Barrio Fiesta.

Think halo and farewell.

THE ORIGINAL BARRIO FIESTA OF MANILA

Where: 3687 San Fernando Road, Glendale.

When: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily except Monday.

Recommended items: Lumpia (traditional eggroll), pancit Bihon (rice noodles with pork and shrimp), kare-kare (mixed meats in peanut sauce), Bicol express (mixed seafood), manok nilaga (soup with chicken, cabbage and potatoes), halo-halo.

How much: Starters from $3.45 to $8.20, entrees from $6 to $25, desserts from $2.50 to $4.15. No alcohol. MC, V and Discover.

Reservations: Helpful. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; three stars for service; three and one half stars for value.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1) Barrio Fiesta features a tropical setting and a variety of creative Filipino dishes, such as those presented by chef Lucibe Cantillero.

(2) Specialities include, clockwise from foreground, pinakbet, sinalab and kare-kare.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer