YOU'LL FARE WELL AT NEW KRAKUS.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

If you live in Chicago, it's no big deal. But here in Los Angeles, finding a good little Polish restaurant is not only difficult, it's almost impossible.

Even with the addition of the tiny new Krakus in North Hills, you'd be lucky to come up with enough Polish eating places around town to count on one hand, Warszawa in Santa Monica and Polska in Eagle Rock being the most prominent.

The perception of Eastern European food being too heavy doesn't help. But after two meals at Krakus, the worry of a leaden mass in one's stomach becomes totally unfounded.

Instead, the result on both occasions was satisfaction from hearty, homey food, skillfully cooked, nicely presented and best of all, incredibly low-priced.

Of course, Krakus, mostly a grocery and deli and having only a small dining area with nine tables and a seating capacity of 30 doesn't have the room to accommodate many customers at the same time.

And hopefully, success won't spoil it.

Meanwhile, though, this is one of those undiscovered gems that restaurant seekers dream about.

Unfortunately, it is only open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., so potential dinner patrons have to get there relatively early in the evening. No late-night drop-ins here.

As for those low prices, they're about as consumer-friendly as you'll find anywhere for such well-prepared food. Krakus charges from $3 to $6.50 for lunch, with most items being meals that include a generously filled deep cup of soup or a better-than-average house salad. The same food is served for $1 more per item at dinnertime.

For example, the most expensive dish, kotlet shabowy, a tasty rendition of breaded pork loin, costs $6.50 for lunch and sets you back $7.50 anytime after 3 p.m., which is when lunch prices cease.

Krakus is a soup fancier's heaven. There are sometimes as many as four daily soups to choose from. One day we sampled a delicious spinach soup with rice and carrots and a deep-flavored beef soup with potatoes. Untried that time were a mushroom soup and a vegetable soup.

During a previous visit, the "red borsch with dumplings" and the "white borsch with sausage" - both very satisfying - were presented as inclusive with the meal, although they are listed on the menu as separate meal items at $2.99 each.

You certainly get the notion that Poland is a soup-loving nation. And any one of the Krakus renditions in healthy-size cups or bowls will tell you that this kitchen is serious about its soup making.

And thankfully, it's just as serious about its entrees.

Whether you're eating a fluffy pierogi stuffed with a seasoned ground meat mixture from a well-filled plate ($5.50) or alternative pierogi dishes at the same price stuffed with either potato and cheese or mushrooms and sauerkraut, you know this is well made, robust food, the kind that your grandmother would cook if she were Polish.

Grandmothers from Eastern Europe, Greece and most Middle Eastern countries make a variety of versions of stuffed cabbage. The Polish call theirs golabki, and here at Krakus your plate ($5.50) is filled with a trio of cabbage rolls crammed full of spiced beef, rice and sauteed onions, and sauced with either a tomato or mushroom gravy. Our nod went to the mushroom version, a perfect complement to the rolls.

Dollops of steaming hot mashed potatoes flecked with tiny vegetable pieces accompany most of the entree items. Slightly pasty and not as hot at the first visit, they were perfect the next time.

Heaping portions of house-produced sauerkraut, also served from warm to hot, accompany many of the entree items. Occasionally you'll find a chunk of juicy meat among the cabbage strips.

If you ask respectfully, you'll get dessert too, at no extra charge. One day it was a moist, spongy cake, another time it was Jell-O and whipped cream.

At these prices, one can hardly be picky.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Krakus.

Where: 16226 Parthenia St., North Hills.

When: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, from 9 a.m. Saturday, and for dinner from 3 to 8 p.m. daily.

How much: All-day menu of meals with salad or soup and choice of bread or potatoes. Lunch $3 to $6.50. Dinners add $1. No alcohol. MC, V.

Reservations: Helpful. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three and One Half Stars for food; Three Stars for service; Four Stars for value.

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PHOTO

Photo Krakus chef Renata Cholody displays some of the menu items available at the North Hills restaurant. Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News