RESTAURANT REVISITED: EL PASO, TAIWAN TARZANA BARBECUE HOUSE ARRIVED VIA A ROUNDABOUT ROUTE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

WHEN TED MA opened El Paso Barbeque Co. 24 years ago, he was following in his father's footsteps.

Martin Ma, young Ted's dad, owned a restaurant in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Spain, and later a second restaurant in Jordan, in the Middle East.

Ted Ma, born in Taiwan, learned both the restaurant business and how to speak Spanish in Tenerife, which put him in good stead as an entrepreneurial restaurateur in Southern California in the '70s.

The younger Ma, though, didn't open a Chinese restaurant (his dad owned the still-operating Golden Dragon in Tenerife), but being enthralled with cowboy lore and the Old West of his new country, he instead named his restaurant the El Paso Barbeque Co.

And Ted Ma, being smart as well as ambitious, learned everything there was to know about Texas and its barbecued food.

His continual research led to trips to El Paso, Texas, every year to find out the latest in food trends down there.

Meanwhile, longtime customers of his El Paso restaurant in Tarzana are never surprised to see owner Ma in western garb with a sombrero on his head, something he's inclined to do on special occasions.

Name: El Paso Barbeque Co. & Prime Steak House.

Address: 18938 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana.

Phone: [phone].

When we last reviewed: March 26, 1982.

How long in business: El Paso Barbeque Co. opened on Mother's Day, May 14, 1978.

Menu/cuisine changes: Basically, the menu today, minus the steaks, is much the same as it was when the restaurant opened.

Steaks, two or three cuts, initially USDA Choice in grade, were added in 1997. Two years ago USDA Prime beef began to be regularly purchased. Now, beef fanciers find a dozen cuts, eight of them USDA Prime.

Owner Ma, through the years, has always had interesting off-menu specials, some of which became temporary signature items. For quite a while, his El Paso gained widespread fame for a rare menu item: barbecued veal ribs.

Balancing his menu somewhat while being aware of a national trend toward healthier food, Ma introduced a very good version of chicken chili which followed the success of his chicken hot links that were first presented 10 years ago.

He has two popular Texas items, one a sliced brisket of beef called the ``Tall Texan'' and the other a thin-sliced barbecued beef creation served on a French roll with melted Swiss cheese called the ``Bronc Buster.''

You'll also find a couple of Southwest favorites: pulled pork and chopped beef here along with barbecued ham, turkey and chicken and the always popular baby back ribs, spare ribs and short ribs.

And regular patrons in the know look for such off-menu specials as a changing soup du jour, a fresh fish item, leg of lamb, grilled asparagus and a large wedge of chilled iceberg lettuce with a choice of dressing, blue cheese often the preference.

Decor/physical changes: Nonregulars will not notice any significant physical differences from the original restaurant, though there are a few. For the first four years there was an open kitchen. Along with a wall enclosing the kitchen, new booths and new carpeting were installed in 1982. Repairs and cosmetic changes were also made following the 1994 earthquake, most notably an airier, more open look, the result of new front windows.

Personnel changes: Ma has supervised the kitchen as well as the front of the restaurant since day one. Ma's wife and son help out during busy periods.

Longtime employees include sous chef Jerry Espitia, 16 years, and busboy Andy Saldivar, eight years.

Recommendable dishes: I have always liked the brisket of beef here, heartily recommend the rack of lamb, have rarely been disappointed in the barbecued rib offerings and am especially fond of the house chili recipe.

As for the current crop of prime steaks, El Paso's kitchen delivers a superb 14-ounce cut of Kansas City-style, bone-in, filet mignon; a decisively hunger-appeasing, 24-ounce, bone-in, juicy rib-eye; and a surprisingly tender, moist and flavorful, center-cut, baseball steak, sometimes called a culotte. These are my top three picks.

Service quality: The staff is attentive, but customers should be aware that this is not a fast food place. Just about everything is made from scratch. (Only ham, turkey and fries are prepared outside.)

The owner cuts his own steaks. All sauces and dressings are prepared here. Even the chicken hot links are produced in-house.

Pricing: El Paso's first menu had everything priced under $10. A slab of baby back ribs was $8.95 a la carte. Today that same order costs $17.95. And some items are due to go up $1 soon. But steak dinners range from as low as $13 to a high of $26 (for the big, 1 1/2 pound porterhouse). A full pound prime T-bone, for example, is only $19.95.

Wine list/service: Beers are more important here than wine. Corbett Canyon is the sole house brand. Some 20 beers by the bottle are available plus four (Samuel Adams, Foster, Sierra Nevada and Miller Lite) on draft. Corkage: $5.

Policies worth mentioning: Because individual prime steaks are cut in the kitchen, only so many are available per evening. Thus, it is wise to phone in advance and make sure of availability on the more expensive or rarer cuts. There's a sharing charge of $2 here and an 18 percent automatic tip charge for parties of six or higher.

Our latest ratings: food: Three and one half stars; service: three stars.

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Photo:

A plate of baby back ribs also features asparagus and fries, above. Ted Ma, owner of the El Paso Barbeque Co., cuts his own Porterhouse steaks, left.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer