RESTAURANT REVIEW : For Hip Italian Dishes in Long Beach, Mum’s the Word

Beautiful people, madhouse art, wood-burning pizza oven--that’s pretty much life as we know it, of course, and Long Beach need no longer drive up to the West Side to find this sort of thing.

Mum’s is the name of the city’s new restaurant: a long, hyper-modern room with skylights and neon accents in the ceiling, a bar clientele that takes very seriously the discreet “Dress Code” sign on the door, and on the walls, disturbing paintings of the most fashionable quasi-psychotic style.

The name Mum’s is a little curious. The owner is English, but one seriously wonders whether his own Mum fed him Italian food when he was growing up. There is a signed photo of Frank Sinatra on the wall, which is also a little odd because the Chairman of the Board usually graces old-fashioned pasta marinara joints.

Mum’s, though, is hip, up-to-date ‘80s Italian. It has a large and unusual Italian wine menu, which includes the savagely dry Greco di Tufo among other unfamiliar names, and it bakes its own bread sticks. They’re a treat, though I must say they seem a bit fresher at lunch than at dinner.

The place has a contemporary taste for wild mushrooms. A sort of giant ravioli called cappellacci, stuffed with duck mousse, comes in a very pleasing sauce of wild mushrooms, meat glaze and a little tomato. The truffle pizza, called “symphony of autumn” in Italian, has porcini and other wild mushrooms together with white truffle shavings on a thin crust. It may be the only time in your life when you pay $22 for a pizza, but it is hauntingly aromatic.

Some dishes sound a little goofy but they generally work out well. Salmon with rhubarb, for instance. Cold smoked salmon (which they serve as an appetizer here with mache and vinaigrette) can handle itself in just about any situation, but something about hot cooked salmon always seems a little . . . I don’t know, mawkish. The sour chunks of rhubarb in the minimal butter sauce add a very welcome note of sarcasm.

It works, I think, because the idea is basically simple. Likewise the duck with grapefruit rind in the red wine sauce, and the fish-of-the-day wrapped in grape leaves. One exotic idea that doesn’t strike me as much of a success is veal scaloppine in a mild, sweetish asparagus sauce. It’s an inoffensive experiment but soporific.

Despite these exotic tendencies, Mum’s plays it safe a lot of the time. No problem when it’s a sure-fire idea like pork with apple relish in meat glaze and sherry sauce. However, the large grilled veal chop with herbs gets a dollop of meat glaze and so does the paillard (not bad, though I’ve had chicken breast pounded thinner). I can’t help thinking this bit of sauce bespeaks a certain lack of confidence in the plain grilled meat.

Still, the only thing that disappointed me was the oddly tough osso buco. I do believe the risotto side that came with it was made with Italian rice, but it seems to have been cooked in water rather than stock.

The desserts don’t make much effort to be Italian, except for a couple of gelati and a very luscious tirami su powdered with cocoa. The best of them, so far as I can tell, is a remarkably luscious apricot bread pudding where slightly dry bread alternates with a rich, custardy substance almost like apricot-flavored butter cream. Now, I just don’t believe an English Mum makes bread pudding like that.

Mum’s, 144 Pine Ave., Long Beach, (213) 437-7700. Open for lunch Mondays through Fridays, for dinner nightly. Full bar. Valet parking. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $30 to $67.