Interesting Menu Updates at La Jolla’s Sante

Even restaurateurs can be bitten by the urge to head west, especially when the landlord triples the rent.

Brothers Tony and Gaetano Buonsante packed up their reservation book and saucepans and headed to La Jolla two years ago, motivated in part by the sudden mushrooming of the rent for their chic La Fenice on Manhattan’s East Side. The change from East Coast to West Coast seems to have been less than traumatic, since the two mixed a measure of New York sensibilities into the paint they used in remodeling the former Oak Tree into the quietly swanky Sante.

Every Italian restaurant of note seems to strike out in its own direction to capture its own tone, and the Buonsantes chose to feature a rather formal style of cooking supplemented by a few of the simple dishes native to their home village near the heel of the Italian boot.

One of the niceties of this menu was that, although it was static, it also was flexible--chef Gaetano was willing to prepare just about anything that a guest well-versed in Italian cuisine might request. The requests frequently arose via suggestions from Tony Buonsante, who runs the front of the house and is quick to offer advice on building a creative dinner.

Flexibility remains a fixture at Sante, although there is less need for invention at present, thanks to the recent introduction of a greatly expanded and sometimes quite engaging menu. Some of the innovations, especially such luxury offerings as Beluga caviar and Strasbourg pate, seem aimed at the horse-racing set and other wealthy sojourners who play in La Jolla in the summer months. Of much greater interest are the new game offerings--some parts of Italy are mad for wild game and can do amazing things with it--which are unique in the area and which by and large are done quite nicely.

One the happiest of these is the quail ravioli, or, to give the full title, ravioli di quaglie al funghetto . The smooth paste of minced bird that fills the vaguely moon-shaped pasta is slightly gamy in flavor, as befits quail, but delicate as well. The woodsy-tasting, earth-colored mushroom sauce (the funghetto, in point of fact) makes the dish, however. In the fall, the kitchen will use fresh porcini mushrooms, which are among the world’s finest; at other times and faut de mieux Sante falls back on shiitake mushrooms, a ploy that works well.

Many consider wild boar to be the meanest, most dangerous animal on the hunt list, and all that bristling nastiness would seem capable of translating to the meat. Far from being tough and gristly, however, Sante’s boar chops grilled in the style of Piedmont ( cingiale piemontese ) are almost incredibly succulent, thanks at least in part to a highly seasoned marinade that imparts both tenderness and a forthrightly piquant flavor. The two thick chops are accompanied by carefully done wild rice and by a lush stew of mushrooms and onions that is flavored, as a well-conceived bow to the game, with juniper berries.

The selection of game continues with fagiano con castagne , or pheasant with chestnuts (and the same garnish as the boar chops), a dish whose success hangs in part upon the diner’s taste for chestnuts. The sauce, depending upon one’s point of view, is either a masterwork of subtlety or bland; it recently garnished a bird that had been given a crackling, burnished finish but was rather on the dry side. Pheasant does tend towards dryness anyway, but methods exist to combat this problem.

The new menu extends well beyond game, of course. The starters--which are expensive and can cost half the price of most entrees--include such pleasantries as the savory, air-dried beef called bresaola ; genuine, imported scampi sauteed with garlic; slices of buffalo milk mozzarella layered with basil and sliced tomatoes, and the insalata ai fruti di mare . This cold seafood salad tends to be luxurious and austere at once, since it consists of much chopped shrimp, squid and octopus (very tender and tasty), mixed with a few olives and peppers but seasoned and dressed with a very light hand. This allows the flavors of the seafood to stand forth simply and directly, and it is this quality that makes the dish so quintessentially Italian.

After the quail ravioli, the pappardelle al finocchio probably is the most interesting pasta dish. Most books state that pappardelle , or extra-wide ribbons of egg dough, exist exclusively for one specific purpose: To be covered with a sauce made from wild hare. However, Sante’s rose-colored brew, of mingled tomato and white sauces beguilingly flavored with fresh fennel, serves quite as well. Another very good pasta, the agnolotti gratinati , bakes round, meat-filled ravioli under a smooth bechamel sauce perfumed with a good deal of nutmeg. The oven-gilded result makes a quietly elegant dish.

The salads are listed after the entrees, which is when they would be served in Italy, and are mostly served for two. A bare sufficiency of vinegar and olive oil moistens the casalinga , a simple but uncommon mix of chopped beets, mushrooms, zucchini, red and gold bell peppers and lettuces, all given a little spark by the inclusion of peppery watercress.

The kitchen usually offers a couple of daily specials; a recent saute of cubed chicken breast, sausage and home-cured peppers suffered from the vinegariness of the peppers. Other entree choices include clams and mussels in a garlicky tomato sauce; a soup-stew of assorted fish and shellfish; rack of veal; herbed lamb chops; a thick veal chop done in the parmigiana style and scaloppine of veal alla Fenice , which finishes the meat with a stylish sauce of cream, Sherry and minced vegetables.

Meals are accompanied by baskets of good, home-baked breads, including herbed, oil-drenched focaccia and tender-crisp grissini , or bread sticks. The kitchen also prepares several desserts, of which the cherry-filled, chocolate ice cream tartufo is the most rich and exotic; there are also flambeed strawberries and fresh zabaglione (Marsala custard sauce) served over seasonal berries. The almond-flavored tortoni ice cream, a dessert familiar in East Coast Italian restaurants, is subtle and virtually perfect.

Sante seems like a small place, although it actually seats a fair number in the formal dining room, the front terrace, the sedate back patio and the cheerful, sophisticated bar. This brick-walled space has a taste of New York to it, especially when the pianist hits a Gershwin streak that goes on gladly through the meal.

DAVID NELSON ON RESTAURANTS

SANTE

7811 Herschel Ave., La Jolla

454-1315

Lunch Monday through Friday; dinner nightly.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $50 to $90.