Paparazzi Makes a Production of Food

If it is food that makes or breaks the great run of restaurants, it is mood that makes the Golden Triangle’s new Paparazzi.

The somewhat unusual Italian menu is nice, but the mood is a distillation of pure genius. Anyone who wants to experience a perfect example of the restaurant as theater should present himself at Paparazzi.

Paparazzi, which borrows the Italian name given to photographers who hound the famous, seems at ease among the startling quartet of eateries in the Aventine, a postmodern development at Interstate 5 and La Jolla Village Drive.

The pasta, pizza and simple entree menu certainly caters to the senses, but food is the last thing to reach them. The door opens to a quiet roar of voices, clinking glassware, clashing cutlery and crockery, all reflected by a barrel-vaulted ceiling painted to look as water-stained and aged as a cellar cafe near La Scala. If the place momentarily quiets, the maitre d’ steps forth and belts out Donizetti and Verdi, a chore shared by the costumed photographer, or paparazzo , who not only sings but takes photos; Caruso recordings fill in the gaps.

The place rather looks like something from the 1920s, or at least like a place from an Italian film set of that era, and it is this sense of time and place that contributes to the odd magic. Food is everywhere, from market cases crammed with cheeses and sausages to walls festooned with ropes of herbs and garlic, with proud Parma hams by the dozen and salamis by the score. In fact, there is a small fortune in cured meats hanging on the walls.

Paparazzi percolates--servers dash (with dignity) from table to kitchen and back, and generally perform well, even if one suspects that the service is orchestrated by an Italian Marx Brother. There is a strong prohibition of unappeased hunger--guests waiting by the delicatessen cases will frequently be offered cold cuts and other snacks from carefully arranged platters. Assorted cookies are proffered as diners depart.

The most noteworthy section of the long but informal menu is the entree list, officially annotated piatti della casa , or specialties of the house. Given the preliminary antipasto, pizza and pasta offerings, guests could ignore this section altogether, but there are some finds, especially the pork cutlets prepared according to recipes usually reserved for veal scallops. (Tender pork has much in common with veal, and unscrupulous restaurants have been known to substitute it for the higher-priced meat.)

Among the half-dozen choices are saltimbocca of pork, which decorates the sauteed meat with the famous Roman garnish of prosciutto, sage, cheese and pan gravy; pork with mushrooms and Marsala; pork in spiced tomato sauce, and even a grilled loin chop.

The dishes sampled were both very pleasant. The maile con prosciutto e limone was an engaging saute flavored with prosciutto and lemon, and the rollatine di salamini was an elegant presentation of stuffed pork filet in brown sauce.

The entree list offers an equal number of chicken breast dishes (with artichoke hearts, or garnished with peppers and potatoes, or grilled with a sauce of oil, lemon and garlic), and these also are attractive. Take note, however, that, although prices are generally between $7.50 and $10, the fairly small servings are unaccompanied by the side dishes of vegetables taken for granted in this country.

This is very much in the Italian style, which in any case presupposes an appetite for a preliminary course or two, and, for all but the smallest appetites, a starter is a necessity at Paparazzi.

The starters are by and large good. There are the usual fried squid, fried zucchini and salad offerings; a plate of roasted peppers that could have been much, much better; a simple beef carpaccio as well as one paired with sliced lobster; and a pretty antipasto plate that makes some use of those decorative sausages. The antipasto includes wonderful bites of eggplant caponata and giardinera , or salty pickled vegetables. Sharing this plate is a great mistake unless both pasta and entree follow.

Paparazzi naturally offers Italian-style designer pizzas, and these vary notably in quality. The nostra , or house special, with mozzarella, sausage, onions and peppers, was rather coarse, while the Adriatico featured a more refined topping of shrimp, cheese, basil and tomato sauce.

One night, the pizza arrived a touch chilled on a plate. On another, a much more savory version arrived fresh from the oven and was carved at table. In a similarly unpredictable fashion, fresh Parmesan was grated over the pasta on one visit, while on a different occasion, the server spooned the cheese pre-grated from a bowl.

There are 20 pastas, and the happiest seem to be those buried in the exceptionally good, veal-based sauce Bolognese, which is used to cover everything from simple mostaciolli to gnocchi and meat-filled ravioli. The shellfish stuffing of ravioli mediterranei was intensely briny, raising the possibility of frozen or canned seafood, and the supposedly spicy flavor of the mostaciolli all’arrabbiata (dressed with tomato, artichoke hearts, sausage and belly bacon) was really quite tame.

A safely luxurious bet in the pasta department is cannelloni Manhattan, named for the La Jolla eatery that shares Paparazzi’s management. Among other interesting choices are ravioli in browned butter and sage, and rigatoni in fresh tomato sauce.

The restrained portions help guests save room for pastries, baked by the restaurant’s own creative genius and, on the whole, quite attractive. There are plain and (much more indulgent) chocolate cannoli, a rather enticing cannoli-style cake, handsome marzipan cookies and Italian-style rum babas --fondant-iced cream puffs with a wonderfully rummy cinnamon bite.

PAPARAZZI

3787 La Jolla Village Drive

455-7272

Lunch and dinner daily.

Reservations suggested.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $30 to $75.