THE SIREN SONG OF A FEW OF HIS FAVORITE THINGS

I usually devote my year-end column to a reminiscence of the best meals. This year, I’m not going to do that, partly because so many of my year’s best have been at the same restaurants I’ve singled out previously at year’s end (not many of the town’s new restaurants in 1986 are very exciting, that is), and partly because a lot of them have been in other cities and even countries--and you’ve probably heard enough about out-of-town food in this column and the surrounding territory for at least, oh, another week or so.

What I would like to do, though, is to offer a brief, informal list of some of my favorite individual dishes of the past year--not specials, but regular menu items, things I can count on, things I almost always order at certain places and the very thought of which draws me back again and again. I hasten to add that these dishes are by no means the only things I like about the restaurants in question (except perhaps in one or two cases) and that some of those “about 30” favorite local restaurants of mine which I refer to elsewhere in these pages today (including two by name) don’t appear in this list--simply because, though I like them greatly overall, no one dish on their menus sings me a siren song.

The dishes, then, in no particular order: corn meal crespelle (crepes) with asparagus and wild mushrooms at Primi; chiles rellenos at Rebecca’s (especially the summertime ones with ground pork and pomegranate seeds); Cajun meat loaf at 72 Market Street (a dish that chef Leonard Schwartz, who of course also does much more serious cooking, must wish he’d never heard of--but which remains perhaps the best meat loaf in L.A.); flannel cakes and Welsh rabbit (not at the same time) at Musso & Frank.

Ceviche (believe it or not) and the Neil McCarthy salad at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel restaurants; the Belle-Vue for bouillabaisse (Fridays only, and dependably good); red meat and plenty of it at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse; sauteed foie gras with cinnamon and marinated pineapple (and don’t make wisecracks until you’ve tried it) at Chinois on Main; smoked goat cheese salad at Le Cou-Cou; barbecued pork ribs with watermelon sauce at the Hard Rock Cafe; cheeseburgers and fries at the West Beach Cafe.

Homemade Chinese sausage (on the sausage combination plate) at Chez Melange; sliced steak sandwich at Harry’s Bar; potato pancakes with goat cheese and sauteed apples at Trumps; bara kabab ( tandoor -roasted rack of lamb) at Raja; grilled shrimp and feta cheese salad at Prego; sauerkraut with smoked fish at Le Chardonnay; chorizo burritos at the Tortilla Inn (in Northridge); and the unusual enchiladas at Sabroso.

WHAT’S NEW BESIDE (ALMOST) THE YEAR: Nick and Walter Rasic of Nikola’s on the east end of Sunset and James Doherty, former CEO of the Los Arcos/Acapulco restaurant chain, have opened the Dodsworth Bar & Grill, Pasadena, in a refurbished 1894-vintage building. The menu is “continental,” featuring fresh fish and prime Angus beef. . . . Jamaica Jamaica, offering Caribbean cuisine, is new in Venice, next door to the New York Lobster Exchange. . . . Well-known local gourmet Tommy Lasorda, who is apparently also connected with the sports world in some way, plans to open his own restaurant--Tommy Lasorda’s Ribs and Pasta--in Marina del Rey, on the site of the old Clem’s, by mid-February. His partner in the operation is Canadian restaurant mogul Oscar Grubert, and Grubert and Lasorda hope their new place will be the first of a chain. . . .

Bobby Snyder, former chef at the late Left Bank restaurant on the Sunset Strip, is the new chef/manager at Cafe Legends in Hollywood. . . . Chef Ron Smoire, former 72 Market Street sous-chef and then chef at Marshal’s, the new California-style restaurant in Paris, is back in L.A., considering the possibilities--another American-in-Paris project, mentioned recently, having fallen through. . . . The California Restaurant Assn. has announced a new series of educational programs for restaurant professionals in January and February. Topics include immigration law, drugs in the workplace and interviewing and hiring. Call (800) 252-0444 for more information.

WHAT? YOU STILL HAVEN’T MADE RESERVATIONS FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE? Well, no promises at this late date, but you might still try: Cafe Cordiale in Sherman Oaks (three special dinners under $20 each, including champagne, from 4 to 11:30 p.m.). . . . Azteca in Venice (special menu at $25 per person or $45 per couple, with champagne or non-alcoholic punch, from 7 p.m.). . . . Siamese Princess, Hollywood (special menu with French champagne, $38.95 per person). . . .

The Cat & the Custard Cup, La Habra (three courses and wine for $40 a head). . . . Le Cellier, Santa Monica (six-course banquet, $50 a person, at 7 and 9:30 p.m.). . . . The Original Sonora Cafe, downtown (Southwestern menu, champagne, and patio dancing, $60 each). . . . Nucleus Nuance, Hollywood (‘40s-style celebration with dinner, French champagne, and Latin jazz for dancing, $75 each). . . .

Geoffrey’s, Malibu ($90 a person for five courses, caviar and champagne tasting, and orchids for the ladies, plus a nine-liter salamanasar of Moet & Chandon to be opened at midnight; festivities start at 7 p.m.). . . . Or Perino’s, mid-Wilshire ($145 a head for seven courses, all drinks and dancing). . . .

Also, a special New Year’s Eve dinner will be served at Knoll’s Black Forest in Santa Monica, with entertainment from 9 p.m. . . . And Jade West in Century City offers the regular menu, with dancing after 8 p.m., for an additional $5 charge.