Italian Restaurant Sets Aside Day to Celebrate Romania’s New Freedom : Restaurants: Chef Christian Burci serves up food of his Balkan homeland without forgetting his apprenticeship with Italian fare.

Christian Burci was a defector from Communist Romania, when I found him bussing tables at Pasta Maria in Brentwood, back in 1983. In those days Burci was an ethereally gaunt teen-ager whose pale blue eyes were filled with hopes and dreams. One day, he would own his own restaurant, he told me.

And today he does.

Burci, matured and more handsome than ever, calls his place Wilshire Garden, and you’ll not know it until you walk into the courtyard in a splendid, but decaying Renaissance Revival building across the street from the newly restored Wiltern Building.

An awning over the restaurant reads “Patio Cafe,” but that’s the name of the old restaurant, and one day it will have to go.

Burci and his partner Liviu Uleia, a fellow Romanian, are trying to breathe some life into the place with a menu filled with bright Italian things Burci learned from his days at Pasta Maria, as well as the Italian dishes added by his bride, whose family had been in the hotel/restaurant/business in the Italian island of Ischia for decades.

Well, all that is being set aside for one day. From 5 to 9 p.m. today, the place and the spirits in it will be turned over to a celebration with food, and music by Romanian violinist Alex Braun, in honor of Romania’s new-found freedom from Communism, and raising funds for families of the victims who died in the cause of freedom. The donations ($15 per person suggested) will go to the American Red Cross’ Romanian fund.

Although Italian appetizers will be served on the buffet, you’ll also find Romanian fare, which could be a break, if you’ve never tried Balkan cooking before, or want to know what Romanian cooking is all about.

During the 1st Century, Romania was a Roman province, hence the name. By the 16th Century Romanian principalities had become satellites within the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the area for 500 years. Romania became a Russian protectorate, then a monarchy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire by 1914, and a Communist-dominated government in the Soviet Bloc in 1944. In 1955 Romania became a “people’s republic.”

Burci was born during the height of the Cold War in 1965, when the former president of the Republic, Nicolae Ceausescu, was a dissident voice in the Soviet Bloc. Burci remembers the leader as having been adored by the people until “hunger for power and an ego to match” took over. “The first of brutal signs of cracking down on the people began in 1972. There were food shortages, no hope and no future, so I escaped,” said Burci.

He is passionate about Romania’s freedom, and looks forward to celebrating with local officials such as John Ferraro, Kenneth Hahn, representatives from the Mayor’s office and anyone else who shares the feelings. But don’t expect alcohol, unless it’s your own. No beer or wine license yet, but there will be punch and some staple Romanian dishes, including icre, a caviar spread found throughout the Balkan Peninsula, having been introduced by Ottoman invaders, and being one of the staples of the cuisine. There will be an eggplant spread called vinete, a cousin of caponata, an Italian spread for crusty bread. Stuffed cabbage, called sarmale, is universally Balkan, another derivative of the Ottoman cuisine. Mititei, a Romanian-style sausage is one of the most unusual sausages you’ll find anywhere, because it is made with both seltzer water and baking soda to cause aeration during cooking. Slightly puffed and light is the desired characteristic of these otherwise Middle Eastern sausages. You’ll find mitetei in one form or another in every country in the Balkans, Turkey and Middle East, including Israel.

The Romanian salad is also unusual. It’s actually called Boeuf salada , a beef salad also known as Russian salad because it probably was introduced during Romania’s Soviet Bloc period, and it too can be found in any Eastern Bloc cuisine. Diced vegetables, such as carrots, celery, potato, pickled cucumbers, small peas and diced beef are bound in a homemade mayonnaise dressing.

Desserts are the restaurant’s staples, such as French tarte tatin, Hungarian chocolate mousse cake, profiteroles and tiramisu. The restaurant is located at 3757 Wilshire Blvd., opposite the Wiltern theater, with parking around the corner on Oxford Street.

Here are some of the Romanian recipes from Burci, should you want to have your own celebration at home.

ROMANIAN STUFFED CABBAGE (Sarmale)

1 large head cabbage

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

2 cups cooked rice

Salt, pepper

1 large tomato, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 (1-pound) can tomato sauce

Core cabbage and plunge, core end down, into simmering water to cover, 5 minutes, until outer leaves are wilted. Cool, then separate and dry leaves, removing tough stem.

Melt butter and add onion and garlic. Saute until onion is tender but not brown. Add beef and pork and saute until browned. Add rice, salt and pepper to taste, mixing and cooking until heated through. Set aside.

Place 2 tablespoons meat mixture in center of each large leaf. Wrap, tucking in ends to form roll. Repeat until all meat is used, reserving some leaves to line pan.

Grease bottom of large saucepan. Line bottom of pan with cabbage leaves. Arrange cabbage rolls over leaves, layering carefully to prevent falling apart. Cover rolls with additional leaves, and sprinkle with diced tomato and bay leaves.

Add water to cover rolls and simmer, covered, 45 minutes. Uncover and add tomato sauce. Simmer, partially covered, 15 minutes longer, making sure rolls are tender, but not mushy. Makes 6 servings.

ROMANIAN SAUSAGES (Mititei)

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

6 cloves garlic, mashed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Salt, pepper

Seltzer water

Combine beef, pork, garlic, soda, salt and pepper to taste and enough seltzer water to moisten meat and make it pliable. Marinate meat at least 8 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

When ready cook, shape into 3- to 4-inch sausages about 3/4-inch thick. Grill, bake or boil as desired. Makes 6 servings.

Note: Serve with French fries or mashed potatoes and vegetables, if desired.

RUSSIAN SALAD (Boeuf Salada)

1/2 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced cooked potato with or without skin

1/2 cup chopped pickles

1/2 cup small peas

1 cup diced cooked beef, optional

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons vinegar

Salt, pepper

Combine carrots, potatoes, pickles, peas and beef. Mix well in bowl. Combine mayonnaise and vinegar and stir into salad until well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 6 servings.