There’s Italian Food in Huntington Beach With the Flavor of New York

A few weeks back I reviewed an excellent new Italian restaurant in Newport Beach called Bagatta8 and was fairly unreserved in my praise. This week, while dining in Baci, a small, charming Italian restaurant in Huntington Beach, I heard the chef grumble about the article to the customers at the next table, completely unaware of my presence. “Bagatta’s only been open a few weeks,” he said, “and just like that they get reviewed.” As I turned my head in complete surprise he caught my eye and said, “there’s no justice.”

The chef is named Angelo Parisi, and he chats with all his customers, much like a neighborhood chef would in a New York City borough. Parisi is a New Yorker himself, and, indeed, Baci is a neighborhood restaurant--even if there’s really no neighborhood per se. (The restaurant is located on a quiet stretch of Beach Boulevard.) It’s exactly the type of place people come back to again and again, where they feel like part of the family. I liked just about everything I ate there.

It’s a storefront restaurant with modest decor. There is a linoleum floor, poster wall art, and track lighting that is a little too bright for romance. Tables are clothed in red. Chairs are simply designed and made of wood. If you’re looking to impress a date, you had better make sure he or she is into food.

Nearly every dish is brushed with originality, and you’ll want to order almost everything you see. Parisi, a graduate of the Culinary Institute in New York, was obviously a keen student of regional Italian cuisine. Nearly all of Italy finds its way onto this menu, with a slight bias toward Naples, the chef’s ancestral home. And I promise you will not leave hungry.

First off, you get a basket of the most addictive garlic bread I can recall. It’s made with fresh garlic, and just the right amount of mozzarella cheese in the middle, served steaming hot. Then there is a complimentary appetizer. One night it was a superbly light chicken minestrone, almost like a stracciatella without the egg. Another night it was marinated broccoli.

Spiedini refers to a skewered dish and, in this case, to a hearty appetizer I like very much. Parisi takes cubes of bread and wraps them in sauteed eggplant, then skewers them with bufala mozzarella and bathes them in an anchovy, onion and caper sauce before finishing the whole thing off in the oven. It’s an interesting combination of flavors, and my only complaint is that the dish is too filling. Share it among three or four.

Other appetizers include chilled roasted peppers, pizzas (which vary nightly), and a light crepe with ricotta cheese and tomato sauce--a fine choice if you don’t plan to have pasta. Salads are good, too, especially the house salad with a thick Caesar dressing that coats the greens thoroughly, and an antipasto salad with Genoa salami, kalamata olives, and pepperoncini.

The menu lumps main dishes together with pastas here, probably due to limited selection. Parisi makes everything from scratch except the tortellini (and a terrific sausage which he has made for him), so at present there are only 11 to choose from, not counting a special or two when he’s in the mood. You just can’t miss here, even if you try.

The most original dish, at least for this type of restaurant, would have to be fettuccine agnello , flat noodles with stewed lamb, mushrooms and pine nuts. It’s a hearty, hunter’s dish, and the chef told me the recipe is from the Piedmont region of Italy. Another one I found unusual was his version of tuttomare , linguini topped with seafood. Parisi uses scungilli (conch) and shrimp in an extremely spicy Fra Diavolo sauce, lining the bowl with fresh California mussels. It’s the type of dish you expect to find on New York’s Mott Street, not Orange County. I’d go back just to eat it one more time.

Meats are prepared more conventionally, but with delicacy. Pork capperi is a beautifully browned chunk, thick as filet mignon and served in a red wine caper sauce. Chicken Francese is nothing more than a paillard of chicken breast that’s been pan- fried abalone-style with an egg batter. As for that terrific sausage, it can be had two ways: alla Carlo, with endive and pan juices, or chicken contadina, which I tried. In the latter dish the sausage is prepared en casserole with chicken, bell pepper, fresh peas and mushrooms. It’s a delightful dish.

Parisi makes his own desserts too. I didn’t try his tirami su (he was sold out the night I wanted it), but his cannoli is smooth and rich, much like the ones you find in Sicilian bakeries. There is also panna cotta with blond raisins, pistachio nuts, and a caramel topping. It’s slightly grainy, with a distinctive flavor.

As I finished dinner the chef came out to ask me how I liked everything and I chatted briefly with him about Italy. “Oh, by the way,” I said as I was leaving, “I agree with everything that Times reviewer wrote about Bagatta.”

“Well,” he replied, “a lot of times those guys don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Baci is moderately priced. Appetizers are $4 to $5.95. Main courses are $8.75 to $13.95. Desserts are $3.25 to $4.75.

BACI

18478 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach

(714) 965-1194

Open Wednesday through Sunday, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

MasterCard and Visa accepted.