RESTAURANT REVIEW : Luna Rossa Proves Itself a Special Little <i> Ristorante</i>

It’s a weekday night at Luna Rossa in Sherman Oaks. Ruta Lee is singing in Italian as the waiter grates cheese on her pasta. We’re not exactly sure who Ruta Lee is, but the older couple and their two grandsons at the next table are thrilled to recognize her. “That’s Ruta Lee,” the woman tells us in a fierce whisper.

“Who?” we ask.

“Ruta Lee,” she says. “The ACTRESS!”

“Oh.”

“And that’s Dick Gautier with her!”

Dick Gautier? We’re cowed by our video-culture ignorance, but otherwise not particularly surprised to see TV stars--or joggers, or older couples, or young families, or best girlfriends--sharing a pizza in this unpretentious little Italian restaurant. Clearly, in the seven months that Luna Rossa has been open, it’s already become the neighborhood standby for a wide cross-section of Sherman Oak citizens. It’s a place to come without reservations or premeditation. You don’t need to dress up or dress down to dine here; it’s strictly come-as-you-are.

The plain, open room is decorated sparsely--or rather, barely decorated--with brass animals, bottles of wine and laser photographs of Sierran streams and the Colosseum. There’s nothing rarefied about the place or the prices (especially the prices), but the pace and tone and waiters are European. In fact, Luna Rossa most reminds me of the many small cafes in Italy and France that are never listed in guidebooks but do a booming business from regular customers.

Our waiter, Tally, is a handsome young man from Yugoslavia, and like the professional waiters I encountered in Europe, he clearly knows that the quality of our dining experience is in his hands: regardless of what comes out of the kitchen, he has the power and choice to make us comfortable and see to our needs . . . or not. Aspiring actors and writers who work as waiters as a stopgap (or worse, a forum) for their future careers would do well to observe actual creativity at work as Tally tends to the happiness of a diverse group of dinner customers.

Upon sitting down, we’re given a basket of small, crusty, sesame-sprinkled rolls that are piping hot and so delicious I’m tempted to make a meal of them. But, perusing the menu, curiosity gets the better of me. Carpaccio at $4.75? How good could food be at such low prices? Unfortunately, we never get to the carpaccio; the thinly sliced raw beef was never available the times we were there. Other appetizers allay this disappointment.

The hearty escarole and white bean soup is garlicky and profoundly satisfying. The antipasto is a mixed bag but a large one, and ultimately worthwhile; one forgives the so-so ham and grilled eggplant because the peppers are perfectly roasted and the buffalo mozzarella, shipped in twice a week from Italy, is some of the best I’ve had. Even better, we discover, is a plate of tomato, basil and that wonderful cheese, which the chef happily supplies even though it’s not on the menu. Although fried rice balls aren’t a big hit among my dinner companions, I find them oddly compelling and foresee a time, when feeling blue, I’d eat the bland, chewy, remarkably round things for their comfort value.

There’s a wide range of pasta, from simple to oversauced, delicious to deplorable. I’m delighted with the calamari linguini-- the squid is tender, the tomato sauce light and tasty. And I’d had slightly better angel-hair pasta with tomato, basil, garlic and oil, but only when I’d paid three times Luna Rossa’s $3.95 price.

The tortellini with mushrooms and ground beef is ghastly, however--undercooked, greasy and bland. Those who prefer their pasta with a good old-fashioned red sauce most likely will be quite happy with the fusilli with tomato and eggplant sauce, although it’s still fresher and lighter than the simmered-for-a-century spaghetti sauces most of us grew up eating.

The three of us split a small, all-white, four-cheese pizza, which was quite good, and several entrees, which were not. A respectable piece of whitefish is fried until greasy beyond redemption, even though its topping of barely heated fresh tomatoes is quite tasty. The chicken breast, a thin, wafery thing under tons of breading, sauce and cheese, is tasteless. By the time the osso buco arrives, we all wonder who will eat it: all we could see were bones sticking out of a woolly red sauce.

Indeed the meat is dry, the sauce overpowering, but we soon figure out that those protruding bones are veritable cisterns of marrow. (For the next two weeks, we three friends will continue to quibble over the questionably fair distribution of that marrow.)

Still, the best thing about ordering and tasting Luna Rossa’s entrees is that we won’t have to do it again. We’ll stick to appetizers, pastas and pizzas and be very happy.

Some nights for dessert, there’s homemade tirami su; it’s a rather pedestrian version of the espresso-soaked ladyfingers, and it comes at a comfortable pedestrian price of $2.50. Other desserts were prepackaged, half-spheres of rich ice cream with chocolate sprinkles or chocolate coating. The espresso is excellent, and the cappuccino very good, only mysteriously not quite hot enough even when it comes directly from the machine.

If I lived within a few miles of Luna Rossa, I’d surely make much use of the little ristorante.

As it happens, I don’t. Yet recently, I found myself stopping in for lunch alone. I hadn’t really planned to, was on my way elsewhere, but the freeway was bumper-to-bumper, it was smoggy out, I hadn’t had my morning coffee, and a headache was blooming behind my eyes. Tally led me to a nice table near the kitchen, brought bread and a menu, gave me a brief, contemplative look and said, “I think maybe you would like a cappuccino right now.”

I knew then that, regardless of distance, I’d be back.

Luna Rossa Ristorante Italiano, 4627 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 981-9380. Open for lunch Monday through Friday; dinner seven nights. Beer and wine. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $15-$40.