Stefano’s Pleases Its Loyal Patrons With Italian Cooking, Home Style

Restaurateur Stephen Zolezzi has discovered that distance does make the heart grow fonder.

His original Stefano’s, an endearing little hole-in-the-wall on University Avenue in the heart of Hillcrest, proved a genuine crowd pleaser over the years. This tiny place owed its special character to its constricted space, a moderate-sized room in which the tables were jammed so closely together that, like it or not, patrons quickly became privy to their neighbors’ deepest secrets. This sheer proximity resulted in a special type of cosmopolitan atmosphere to which few San Diego restaurants could lay claim, and to which even fewer (more’s the pity) would aspire.

Time and tides being what they are, though, Zolezzi decided to move to more spacious quarters, a feat that confirmed his popularity, since local restaurants rarely change locations--they generally wither on the vine. And since he owed his good fortune to a carefully crafted menu, Zolezzi took the menu with him when he moved. Two recent visits have found packed houses, showing that Zolezzi’s audience was most willing to follow this rather charming menu.

The food is not different from what it was, although this is hardly a fault, since Stefano’s food always merited praise. But the menu is different from that served by most Italian restaurants in this country, and in a very positive sense: Stefano’s offers Italian home-style cooking. Simple dishes, but definitely not run-of-the-mill.

For example, the pasta list offers spaghettini tossed with sauteed lamb scallops and vegetables, the entree list features several risotti (the special rice dishes of Tuscany and Lombardy), and the seafood selection runs well beyond the usual linguine with clam sauce to include such dishes as filet of fish in an artichoke and pepper sauce.

Zolezzi moved several months ago to a new building on 5th Avenue, just a few blocks south of his old location, but light years away in terms of style. While the old place was cramped and dark, the new one offers two floors of spacious dining rooms, handsomely decorated and comfortably furnished with upholstered banquettes and generously sized tables. No longer is it possible (or for that matter, unavoidable) to overhear the conversations at the neighboring tables, nor does it any longer seem incumbent upon guests to offer their neighbors tastes of pasta and dessert. The upstairs room is the better-designed of the two, but both are attractive, making this one of the prettier restaurants in town.

The best part is that the food continues to be unpretentious but different. This is not a fancy restaurant, but it still offers five different lasagnas: the tomato sauce and cheese version for those who wouldn’t have it any other way, and versions containing zucchini, spinach, shrimp or sausage for those who wish to try something new. The menu also offers a frittata, a hefty omelette common to Sicilian home cooking, a dish that is easy to make but is rarely offered by restaurants in this area. And yes, the menu does offer veal parmigiana, but in a most unusual way; it is priced at $8.95 for cost-conscious folk who don’t mind the less delicate but more affordable Western veal, and at $12.95 for those who prefer their parmigiana made with prime, milk-fed veal.

Stefano’s prices do have much to do with the restaurant’s popularity, as it is possible for a couple with will power and a light purse to sneak out of the place for about $20, which would include a pasta and glass of wine each, tax and tip. It is equally possible to shoot the tab to $60 or more for a meal that includes appetizers, desserts and a good bottle of wine. Most guests’ bills should fit somewhere between these two extremes.

The first courses are interesting, especially the snails finished with fennel butter and roasted garlic, and the caponata, a Sicilian blend of eggplant, onion, tomato, celery, capers and olives, all stewed together and served chilled as a salad. As simple a dish as it is, caponata requires a deft hand, and Stefano’s version is one of the best in memory.

One unexpected addition to the bill of fare is a hot (or, to take the menu to task on this point, warm) goat cheese salad, an elegant and decidedly French construction of romaine lettuce topped with dabs of warm, creamy chevre (soft goat cheese), sauteed slivered almonds, and pungent sun-dried tomatoes. This is a classy combination, but be warned that it also is quite filling, and probably should be shared by two guests.

Pesto, the Genoese sauce compounded from crushed basil, garlic, romano cheese and olive oil, is a favorite at Stefano’s, and turns up in several dishes. Its earliest appearance is as a sauce for homemade fettuccine, but it reappears more interestingly as a sauce for shrimp, and again in a dish of chicken breast baked with pesto, wine, pine nuts and a covering of cheese.

The even more ubiquitous marinara, or basic tomato sauce, flavors everything from basic spaghetti to the calimari parmigiana, and the chicken marinara, which also features a wealth of mushrooms.

By the way, Stefano’s spaghetti and meatballs, which presumably is listed as a sop to traditionalists, is not done well; the kitchen’s lackluster presentation of this American favorite seemed to carry the message that those who want this dish would do well to go elsewhere. But the fettuccine napoletana, or noodles dressed with a sauce of tomatoes, vegetables and pesto, is pleasant, and a nightly special called fettuccine alla romagnola was very nice indeed. In this dish, the noodles were moistened with white wine and cream, and accented with bits of Italian sausage, fresh tomato, garlic and parsley.

One of this restaurant’s most savory dishes always has been the braciole, or packages made of veal scallops rolled around a stuffing of minced carrots, celery, onions and pine nuts. Braised in marinara sauce, it is a particularly satisfying creation lifted neatly from the Italian home kitchen. The menu specifies that this, like most entrees, is served with a hot vegetable, but the menu is too modest; on both occasions, entrees were accompanied by trios of vegetables. Among these were crisp green beans sauteed with onions; creamed potatoes (not mashed, mind you, but cooked in cream); carrot puree and tender yellow squash.

The desserts are largely catered, but they come from good sources, especially the gelati , or Italian ice creams. The hazelnut gelato is a wonder and the Grand Marnier-flavored ice cream truffle, which is wrapped in a chocolate shell, runs a close second. Nor could one quarrel with the house cannoli, a slender fried pastry tube stuffed with fluffy, sweetened ricotta cheese.

STEFANO’S

3671 5th Ave., San Diego

296-0975

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner served nightly.