Issimo Is a Restaurant That’s Striving Hard to Live Up to Its Name

La Jolla restaurateur Will Howard’s ambitions are no loftier than, say, K-2 or any of its neighboring Himalayan peaks.

Howard merely intends that his newly expanded eatery on La Jolla Boulevard will become, as he said recently, a world-class restaurant that will be measured by the highest international standards.

This determination led Howard and his partner and fiancee, Anne Slattery, to choose a self-challenging name with which to christen their new, improved version of The Pasta Place. This name, Issimo, is the Italian suffix that indicates “the most,” as in bellissimo , “the most beautiful,” or fortunissimo , “the luckiest.”

The Pasta Place, which Howard and Slattery founded in 1983 as a deluxe Italian carryout and caterer and gradually expanded into a small cafe, continues to function under the Issimo umbrella. Storefronts on either side of the original shop have been absorbed into the new establishment, more than doubling the size of the kitchens, and allowing for the creation of a truly charming dining room.

Handsome Decor

Had Howard, a former computer entrepreneur and championship skier, chosen to name this room Bellissimo, he would have been quite within his rights, because it is indeed handsome. Colored primarily in black and a rich, sweet basil green, the walls are brightened by a series of murals painted by artist Wing Howard (Will Howard’s father), who painted the murals in the Whaling Bar at the La Valencia hotel some 40 years ago and is currently restoring them.

Drawn more as idealizations than as representations of reality, the Issimo murals depict Italian seaports. The most charming looks a bit like Genoa, the herb-carpeted hills above it basted with sunshine and Ligurian olive oil.

Luxury is more than the keynote here--it is the moving force behind every detail of the menu, decor and service. This insistence that everything be the best has mandated a price structure that one guest at times found startling, as in the $17.50 tab for a plate of spaghettini San Remo. The price does seem high until one considers that there are never less than eight cooks in the kitchen (and sometimes as many as 12, a remarkable number for a place with 80 seats), and that the sauce was prepared to order from, among other things, fresh tomatoes and costly extra virgin olive oil. With its flavorful underpinnings of garlic and basil, it was a study in well-executed simplicity, and was utterly delicious. As is the case with all entrees, the price also included an almost voluptuous salad of fine greens turned with Balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and a goodly amount of black pepper.

Wants Notoriety

Howard said he wants his clients, many of whom are well-traveled, to speak about Issimo in the same manner with which they discuss fashionable eateries elsewhere.

“Just like people say they go to Tour d’Argent in Paris for the foie gras , or to Harry’s Bar in Venice for the carpaccio , I want them to say they go to Issimo for a special dish,” said Howard, who added that a fair percentage of his guests already compare his restaurant to famous spots in Europe. “One couple told me that my pate de foie gras is better than at Tour d’Argent, which supposedly has the best in the world,” Howard said. (There was no opportunity to sample Issimo’s foie gras on either of two recent visits, but Howard said that his goose livers come from both American and French sources, and his fresh black truffles from both the Perigord in France, and Umbria in Italy.)

Lofty ambitions aside, it can be said that Howard and his staff do quite a fine job with their menu and circumstances. The cooking tends very much toward refined Northern Italian dishes, although Howard said his goal is to offer a menu half Italian, half classic French haute cuisine . The menu changes weekly, but will be rewritten midweek if certain ingredients become unavailable.

At its simplest, the appetizer list offers the classic prosciutto and melon combination; at its grandest, fresh Beluga Malossol caviar. In between these extremes range a wonderful selection of starters, such as creamed leeks wrapped in Black Forest ham; marinated Montrachet goat cheese with prosciutto; a timbale (tiny casserole) of fresh sole and smoked trout dressed with caviar and a creamy butter sauce, and a Vidalia onion tart. This last was a monument to these special, sweet onions; sauteed in a bit of bacon fat, they were bound with eggs and cream, flavored with nutmeg and plenty of black pepper, and baked in a fine butter crust.

The finest appetizer, however, was an almost ridiculously elegant presentation of fresh forest mushrooms sauteed with cream, veal stock and sherry, which were piled in and around a tall box of freshly baked, beautifully flaky puff pastry. The idea behind this, by the way, is really quite simple, but the preparation is painstaking. The results justify the labor.

Howard said he intends to reduce the number of pastas on his menu as he heightens the French influence, but now there are many, mostly offered as a pasta course--an order can be requested in half-portion by one guest, or split by two, or consumed by one person in lieu of an entree. These are mostly simple and familiar dishes, with the difference that they are prepared with extravagant raw materials and, in those instances that permit, prepared freshly to order. (Such items as the lasagne obviously must be made in advance, but are prepared in individual baking dishes.)

The seafood cannelloni, stuffed with crab, large shrimp, scallops and mushrooms, are extremely rich thanks to their binding of becciamella (thick white sauce) and the weighty coverlets of cheese with which Issimo mantles the baking dishes. This is a fine dish, and one not readily found hereabouts; the same could be said of the lasagne, layered with a light sauce Bolognese, becciamella and so much cheese that it seems impossibly rich.

The entree list usually extends to just six or seven dishes, including a couple of extra-fancy pastas, such as agnolotti (round, fluted ravioli) stuffed with forest mushrooms and moistened with a tarragon-flavored cream sauce. On the more substantial side, it offers lamb medallions in a heady brown sauce flavored with Madeira, thyme and garlic; scampi Toscano, or giant shrimp served on a bed of spinach and julienned leeks, the whole dressed with a sherried beurre blanc , and quail breasts in a tartlet shell lined with fresh chanterelle mushrooms.

Meaty Veal Shank

One entree that came off exceptionally well was the osso bucco , the Milanese classic of meaty veal shank braised in a richly seasoned tomato sauce. Howard reduced his sauce to an almost jam-like consistency, which made it extremely pungent and sharp, and very good; it worked wonders with the moist, falling-from-the-bone veal. The plate included a mound of expertly done saffron risotto ( risotto is rice cooked in a special manner, and there are hundreds of variants on the basic dish), bundles of slender green beans and julienned carrots, and a pile of spicy red cabbage that was an inspired addition to the osso bucco .

In a French mood, the menu offered a quartet of veal medallions, two sauced with a rather strong mustard cream, the others with a reduction of brown stock and Cognac. The dish was elegant and simple, but less challenging in its flavors--rather more safe, one might say, than the osso bucco .

Howard said that he himself bakes some 90% of the desserts, many of which are wild extravagances of chocolate, flavored with more chocolate and covered in yet more chocolate, and all of which are beautiful. In his darkest chocolate moments, Howard whips up a torta di mezzanotte (“midnight cake”) of dense chocolate cake layers filled with mocha cream and spread with truffle-like chocolate ganache . He also offers white chocolate “ravioli” filled with dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, and a dessert of thin chocolate sheets layered with mousse and fresh berries. For a relief from all this chocolate, there are the delicate, papery honey biscuits layered with berries and whipped cream. Like several desserts, this is served on a pool of raspberry puree decorated with a wreath of custard cream hearts. The effect is almost as ravishing as the flavor.

ISSIMO

5634 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla

454-7004

Lunch and dinner served Tuesday-Saturday.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a modest wine, tax and tip, $80 to $110.