Production Line Cafe has been serving lunch and providing carryout meals in Oakley for many years. With an expanding antiques mall across the street and some other new shops in the area, perhaps more people will discover this small, good restaurant.

You can lunch in the dining room, a modest storefront awash in bright, tropical colors and furnished with mismatched furniture. Or you can take home dinner entries, in addition to soups and sandwiches, Monday through Saturday.

The two dinners I ordered, the grilled pork loin with raspberry sauce ($11.95) and the marinated flank steak ($12.95), usually are available, but you can call and request special items — with one or two day's notice — and Production Line will come through. Dinners include bread and salad, along with pasta or potatoes and sometimes a vegetable side dish. Prices range $10.50-$16.95.

In addition to the dinner entries, I tried the lunch menu. The Big Bella, a grilled portabella mushroom with marinated artichokes and red onion on wheat toast, was slippery but good. Sandwiches, all $5.95, come with a choice of four side salads, including the potato and pasta salads rated No. 1 by Enquirer Taste Teams.

Soups vary daily. On my visit, the tomato corn chowder ($3.50) was excellent, with bold chunks of carrot and spicy Southwestern heat.

I also tried the carrot cake and pineapple upside down cake (each $3).

Fresh pineapple caramelized with brown sugar topped a dense, moist cake. The carrot cake was lighter and drier, filled with shredded carrots, nuts and raisins and finished with a tangy, fluffy icing nearly a half-inch thick.

A nice feature offered by Production Line is dinner delivery to families with new babies or other special needs. The restaurant also has an extensive catering menu.

Production Line Cafe, 3210 Madison Road, Oakley, phone 321-1205

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