The following are summaries of recent Times...

The following are summaries of recent Times restaurant reviews.

Grappa, 2304 W. Ocean Front, Newport Beach. (714) 675-1930. Open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m., Fridays through Sundays till 11.

Grappa, housed in what used to be Zeppa, is yet another beachfront Italian restaurant in Newport. New owner Vincenzo Gentile hasn’t changed the basic concept: The restaurant still resembles a Florentine villa, with a kitchen that churns out such favorites as great fried calamari, salads with lots of balsamic vinegar, and upscale pastas such as agnolotti and penne. Nodino alla griglia, an excellent veal chop grilled with aromatic herbs, is a standout. Desserts are intelligently underindulgent.

Places Afar, 25932 Muirlands Blvd., Mission Viejo. (714) 581-4200. Open daily except Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10.

Calesa, 2106 Tustin Ave., Santa Ana. (714) 541-6585. Open daily except Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10.

Places Afar is your basic Cuban-French-Vietnamese restaurant; the English is circumspect, the cooking is spectacular. Start with Cuban ham croquettes alongside greaseless plantain chips, or a bowlful of smoky black bean soup. Then try Imperial salad from Vietnam. Evenings, there are such French classics as couscous and choucroute. Calesa has a sign boasting “round-the-world-dining”--it’s a luxurious restaurant with Filipino, Asian and Continental specialties. There is a wide selection of main dishes from paella to sate and cooking is often on the sweet side. Service is formal, and waiters in tuxedoes flame desserts with enthusiasm that borders on lust.

Faraday’s Grill and Spirits, 13102 Newport Ave., Tustin (714) 730-3442. Open Sundays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays till 11 p.m.

Faraday’s is a family restaurant with cheerful service, juicy burgers and some mighty devoted fans. Why else would anyone wait half an hour for institutional food on a Tuesday evening? Everybody goes ape over onion strings, mountains of flour-dredged onions deep-fried until crispy, and the sappy sweet barbecue that kids favor so shamelessly. Breakfast is actually quite credible here, with fluffy pancakes, homemade muffins, and squeezed-to-order OJ. Portions are predictably generous and prices are modest.

Baci, 18478 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach. (714) 965-1194. Open Wednesdays through Sundays from 5:30 to 10 p.m.

Baci is just a storefront restaurant with modest decor, but young New Yorker Angelo Parisi gives his food a rough sophistication; nearly all his dishes are touched with originality. All of Italy finds its way onto Parisi’s small menu. Complimentary appetizers might be a superbly light chicken minestrone, or some cold, garlic-infused broccoli. Dishes like fettuccine agnello, flat noodles with stewed lamb, and linguine tuttomare, with scungilli and shrimp, sustain the enthusiasm. The best dessert is panna cotta, the poor man’s creme brulee.

Hastings, in the Anaheim Hilton, 777 Convention Way, Anaheim. (714) 750-4321. Open Fridays through Tuesdays from 6 to 11 p.m. Call for lunch times.

Hastings has good food for a hotel restaurant, but other aspects of dining there can be annoying; service is particularly spotty and indifferent. The room is predictably clubby with the predictable hotel creature comforts. The menu features a sumptuous lobster ravioli appetizer, a fine seafood Caesar salad, and some highly credible entrees including filet mignon that melts in the mouth and great veal. Seafoods are done handsomely. The wine list is extensive and intelligent.

Hassan’s Cafe, 3325 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 675-4668. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5:30 to 11, Sundays from 5:30 to 11 only.

Hassan’s Cafe specializes in the cuisine of Lebanon, a hybrid of Turkish, French, and local influences, and the restaurant is relaxing and exotic. Mazza, one of the world’s great noshes, is the absolute must here, a splendid array of Middle Eastern appetizers like mutebel, a smoky eggplant dip, and warrab ennaq, vine leaves stuffed with aromatic rice. There are interesting main dishes like kibbe nayya, raw ground lamb mixed with bulgur wheat, sort of an Arabic version of steak tartare. Kababs are first-rate.