THIS IS WHERE THAI FOOD IS LOVER-LY.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

As is the case with most neighborhood Thai restaurants these days, the menu at the Lover Thai in Van Nuys looks pretty much like those of other Thai cafes in the area.

You've got your satay, mee krob, yum yai, larb, Thai soups, Thai barbecued chicken, curries (red, green and yellow) and pad Thai mainstays.

So, by looking past the majority of these very familiar items, we try to find out just how good the food can be in this neat, clean, attention-getting-named eating place on busy Sherman Way.

We do this by ordering dishes that look interesting, that the waitress recommends, that we feel are worthwhile kitchen tests.

Taking the server's recommendation on the stuffed chicken wings ($5.50), it's quickly apparent that she's right, that these two bulging goodies are indeed very tasty, each one quite substantial, crammed with a flavorful mixture of ground chicken, glass noodles and vegetables.

And for condiment fanciers, there's a bonus. A bowl arrives containing a refreshingly cool cucumber dipping accompaniment.

A second appetizer with the irresistible name ``goong ga-bog'' ($5.50) was deemed impossible to pass up one day.

This turned out to be deep-fried, crispy eggrolls and a plum dipping sauce, the eggrolls stuffed with more of that seasoned, ground chicken, but this time paired with one whole, deshelled shrimp per eggroll. Very good.

From a list of nine salad options, though it currently lacks the promised sour green apple because of seasonal unavailability, the duckling salad ($5.95) here still gratifies, largely the result of moist, chewable duck meat pieces, a delightfully tart curry paste and lemon juice dressing and the welcome crunch of cashew nuts and iceberg lettuce.

Soups, particularly the tom yum kai ($3.95) rendition of spicy lemon- grass-tinged broth flavored with cilantro, filled with chicken tidbits and straw mushrooms, come in generously portioned tureens for sharing.

And surprise, surprise. Real crab meat, not surimi, is used in the fluffy crab noodles recipe ($5.95) of a pan-fried tossing of egg, chiles, garlic and flour-dusted crab meat with thin Thai noodles, the entire melange draped over lettuce.

You won't break any bank accounts at the Lover Thai. The most expensive dish is the $7.95 stir-fried grouping of shrimp, mussels and fish - one day it was moist chunks of catfish filet - with a chile and garlic saucing, handled skillfully by the chef, texture-perfect, an excellent dish, especially at such moderate tariff.

Not as effective is a bone-in version of spicy catfish, cooked to a brownish tone, that came forth slightly too dry.

But red curried pork, the traditional prig khing ($5.50), plated with crisp green beans, saved the day one time. That's especially true because the kitchen had run out of both its beloved barbecued chicken and barbecued beef short ribs.

This little cafe may not exactly qualify as a destination restaurant, but it's certainly not a bad place to stumble upon.

And as the song says, ``Everybody loves a lover.''

The Lover Thai has enough culinary reasons not to be an exception.

THE LOVER THAI

Where: 14126 Sherman Way, Van Nuys.

When: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. weekdays, from noon to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays.

Recommended items: Stuffed chicken wings, tom yum kai (spicy chicken and mushroom soup), ground chicken and whole shrimp eggrolls, duckling salad, prig khing (pork in red curry paste) with green beans, spicy sauteed seafood, crab noodles.

How much: Starters from $4 to $6.25, entrees from $5 to $8. No alcohol. MC, V, Discover. ($15 minimum credit card purchase.)

Reservations: Taken. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; Three stars for service; Three stars for value.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1 -- 2) An assortment of dishes - including the delectable eggroll appetizer goong ga-bog, right, is presented with a smile by Lover Thai owners Jenny, left, and Pat Patanumpuntong and daughter Kathy.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News