Menello Di Carmine: New Place With That Old Feeling

This is what you’ll want to know about the new restaurant occupying the former site of Le Cellier. It is called Menello Di Carmine, 2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (213) 828-1585. It has two principal owners. One is Carmine Competelli Jr., whose family owned and operated Carmine’s restaurant for many years. The other is Eddy de Bellagente, the son of an Italian count, who was the maitre d’ at Hollywood’s Villa Capri and later at Carmine’s. It also has a host of other owners--many of them stars.

What you will also want to know is that while the restaurant is brand new, it feels as if it’s been here forever. If you have a nostalgic streak and long to sit on an upscale banquette eating dishes that went out with the ‘50s (breadcrumb-stuffed mushrooms, shrimp Parmesan with meat sauce, fried calamari that’s more fried than calamari), this is one place to do it.