ROSA: WHERE THE TOMATO IS STILL KING

Rosa Il Ristorante Italiano, 3077 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park, (818) 960-2788. Open for dinner Monday-Saturday. Closed Sunday. Full bar. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $60-$85.

The late James Beard was once asked how he felt about cannibalism. He rather sagely replied that he would consider it, if there was enough tarragon. I feel the same way about good homemade tomato sauce.

This splendid sauce, which has long been synonymous with Italian dining, is diminishing in popularity to the point that it now appears to be headed for the endangered species list. Neighborhood chefs once guarded their tomato sauce recipes like government secrets; these days we are lucky to find it on pizza. Northern Italian is in. Southern Italian is out. La nuova cucina has found a place in the sun (alongside dried tomatoes), and lighter ingredients like porcini and spring vegetables have replaced tomato sauce in many dishes.

There are some local chefs, however, who still take tomatoes to heart. Chefs like Vincenzo and Mario Ricci of Rosa Il Ristorante Italiano, who not only make a marvelous tomato sauce but also manage to work little miracles with a variety of ingredients. The Ricci brothers just happen to be from Naples, where the tomato is the heart and soul of the kitchen. Their restaurant, located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, has both heart and soul.

Rosa is a real family operation. The restaurant is named for the chefs’ sister, Rosa, who directs traffic in the dining room along with another brother, Giuseppi, the maitre’d. They have designed their gaudy dining room with romance in mind. The room is filled with crystal chandeliers and lined with tinted mirrors. There are pink, flower-adorned tablecloths and white latticework trellises all about. The tinkling of a grand piano can be heard somewhere in the back, and if you squeeze your eyes shut you might imagine yourself in Liberace’s living room.

Despite all this, when you open the menu you know you are in a serious restaurant. The first thing you see is a printed insert of daily specials. Rosa’s special gnocchi, little dumplings made from flour, eggs and potato, usually leads them off. These are elegantly served in a puree of fresh tomato and smoked mozzarella, and they are so good that I order them every time I eat at the restaurant. Although the gnocchi are featured as an appetizer, don’t be taken in; unless you have just run a marathon, or are noted for your legendary appetite, share them. Or have them as a main course.

Another wonderful dish is the calamaretti alla napoletana, baby squid in fresh tomato sauce, with olives, pine nuts and raisins. Grab it when its available. From the regular menu choose the alluring baby artichokes, simmered in herbs and Italian cheese, or pasta e faggioli, the bean and pasta soup, served here with more than a hint of garlic.

All the pasta is fresh, and all is cooked al dente. Virtually everything with tomato is good, as are ravioli ai porcini, spinach and ricotta ravioli in a porcini mushroom sauce, and tortellini alla contadina (both specials), green tortellini in a light cream sauce stuffed with minced, homemade Italian sausage, and blanketed with a julienne of spring onion.

Entrees can also be imaginative. The Ricci brothers like wild game and offer it in season. Quaglie (roasted quail) are served in a fine champagne sauce and are worth the difficulty involved in eating them. The veal chop, the most expensive thing on the menu at $21.95, is filled with prosciutto and fontina cheese and then luxuriantly braised in brandy.

This being a Neapolitan kitchen, the preparation of seafood is taken seriously. There is an outstanding swordfish poached in vegetables, wine and lemon, and the cioppino is memorable. The only real failure I have had is eastern scrod fillet. It was topped with one of their better sauces but the sauce was far too heavy for the deep fried fish.

Rosa doesn’t do very well with desserts either, but by the time you get to them you will probably be too full to care. The offerings are limited to some tired Italian bakery standbys like a dry rum cake and a mascarpone-less tiramisu. I advise ending the meal with a simple espresso.

The wine list offers excellent values, and service is attentive and professional. Rosa’s may not exactly be on the beaten path, but it is worth the drive from other areas of Los Angeles. Once you’ve tasted that tomato sauce, you’ll undoubtedly agree.