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Il Fornaio Adds Some Subtle Spice and Top View to Dining in Del Mar

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Subtlety in food, as in conversation, arises partly from discretion and restraint. Flavors arrive in hints. At the new Il Fornaio in Del Mar, for example, there is a pasta dish, the agnolotti d’agnello con salsa al finocchio , that reveals itself gradually through hushed tones and soft suggestions.

Imagine flavors to be like drops of water dripping unseen at the back of a cavern. As the drops fall one by one, they whisper, not urgent but seductive. So it is with these stuffed pasta rounds: the finely minced lamb whispers, there is a slight echo of herbs (surely, rosemary is among them), the pasta dough smoothes both these gentle notes and invites the fennel sauce, which only hints at fennel’s usual licorice flavor, to join the sotto voce harmony.

But Il Fornaio, which serves from dawn until midnight and seems always full, is brash and brassy, a crash of piccolos and street organs drowning out Del Mar’s preferred and somnolent flute.

The place is a rare exception to the rule that restaurants with fabulous views do not serve fabulous food. Perched on the top level of the new Del Mar Plaza, Il Fornaio has a stunning view of the ocean that may be the best enjoyed by any restaurant in the county. The interior view isn’t bad either, because the restaurant is decorated with several tons of Italian marble, features open kitchens and display cases filled with dazzling selections of foods and is always bustling with an endless scrimmage of servers and tables crowded with noisy patrons.

The restaurant is the newest in a small chain that has its flagship eatery in San Francisco. It is the American result of an incursion made some years ago by a massive Italian chain of the same name that specializes in bread and other baked goods-- il fornaio means “the oven”--but the ownership now is strictly in California hands.

Il Fornaio’s massive, oak-fired oven gives the restaurant its soul. An extraordinary number of breads issues from its volcanic depths, as do thin-crusted pizzas and sizzling, crisply finished meats. The breads appear repeatedly through the day’s menus, as buns, rolls and Italian “French” toast (spread with mascarpone cheese) at breakfast; as the base of the clever luncheon sandwiches; as major components in salads (the panzanella salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, coarse Tuscan-style bread, oil and vinegar) and even in soups, and as assorted delights in the bread baskets that accompany noon and evening meals. Among the charmers sometimes found in the basket are ciabatta , or “slipper” bread, fashioned from an almost-liquid dough that bakes up airy and crisp; hard-crusted rolls studded, most deliciously, with chopped olives, and crunchy grissini , the bread sticks that made Turin famous.

There is a play between formality and informality here that is expressed in the neatly buttoned white jackets of the servers and the sports clothes of the diners, the crisp table linens and the happily messy stuffed artichokes, and a menu (served at both lunch and dinner) that places less emphasis on formal entrees than on antipasti , pastas and pizzas. (Prices, by the way, are quite reasonable, since very few dishes cost more than $10 and the portions are very large. There is a temptation to order several things, however, and the bill will rise accordingly.)

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The antipasto list begins with a bread dish of roasted focaccia bread draped with smoked prosciutto, but quickly abandons the bread motif for such pleasures as a layered “cake” of grilled eggplant, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, onions and capers; an immense artichoke stuffed with a pungent hash of marinated artichoke hearts, fresh tomato, bread, radicchio lettuce and a lemony vinaigrette; an impressive antipasto plate of the usual meats and cheeses mated with unusually good roast peppers and marinated mushrooms, and a jelly roll-like creation called filone di mozzarella . The pinks and greens of prosciutto and peppery arugula lettuce peek out of the folds of the rolled mozzarella and ricotta cheeses; pine nuts lurk within to provide a necessary crunchiness as well as an extra flavor. At the table, the server adds a drizzle of greenish virgin olive oil and a grinding of black pepper.

The soup and pasta list grows wilder by the entry. The odd, fresh tomato soup could almost be called a “stuffed” soup, because it is so loaded with chunks of Tuscan bread that little liquid remains. There is an ascetic dish of fusilli pasta with vegetables and herbs that eschews oil and butter. The more indulgent mezzelune (“half-moon-shaped” ravioli) are filled with ricotta and bitter herbs and dressed with sage-flavored brown butter; this is elegant, but it could use more sage. Tagliolini di pane uses spaghetti-like strips of bread dough instead of regular pasta, tosses them with sausage, onions and red wine, and seems rather inaccessible at first bite, although it does gradually grow on you. Ravioli stuffed with mixed greens appear in a walnut-pine nut sauce, and dumplings ( gnocchi ) made of potato and Swiss chard in a savory chicken and rabbit sauce.

The pizzas are thin-crusted, relatively restrained and attractive at lunch, and the most daring is topped with musky Gorgonzola cheese, onions, pine nuts and basil.

Among the formal entrees, only the pollo al diavolo , or grilled chicken in a very strong but very nice mustard sauce, was sampled. But the list includes much that looks interesting, including a choice of roast chicken, duck and rabbit that start on the rotisserie and finish in the oak oven; a Venetian-style pot roast ( brasato di manzo ) in a red wine and porcini mushroom sauce; a couple of grilled fish of the day; grilled calves liver finished with moody balsamic vinegar and sage, and the Tuscan classic, bistecca alla fiorentina , which is served for two guests. The 2-pound Porterhouse steak is marinated in flavored oil, grilled rare and served with the traditional white beans.

Il Fornaio wraps things up with a handsome dessert selection that naturally includes bread pudding, but also offers a lovely, triple-tiered arrangement of white, milk and dark chocolates ( valentino vestito di nuovo ) and the wonderful bianco mangiare , an almond cream custard in caramel sauce. In Roman times, almonds were one of the four major foods in Italy, and, at this most Italian of restaurants, the elusive flavor of almonds in the bianco mangiare seems to call softly from somewhere back in time like a quickly flashed memory in Fellini’s “Amarcord.”

IL FORNAIO Del Mar Plaza, 1555 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar 755-8876 Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $30 to $60.

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