Locanda: Traditions Over Trends

Chances are, if you’re in a restaurant near Lake Como in Italy’s Lombardy region, trout will show up on the menu. At Locanda del Lago, a new Santa Monica restaurant inspired by Italy’s lake country, trout shows up twice. As an appetizer, it’s marinated with carrots and onion in white wine and balsamic vinegar. As an entree the trout is stuffed with garlic and herbs and baked. You’ll find neither of these dishes on Melrose.

There is one Melrose-style tomato-basil-mozzarella pasta dish here, but the customary pizza is nowhere in sight. What turns up instead, again and again, is delicious, fresh polenta: with lake-region-style spezzatino , an earthy-tasting chicken stew; with slow-braised beef; or with a beef stew. This seems like real Northern Italian cooking. And there’s an interesting assortment of pastas, including pappardelle tossed in an intense veal sauce.

Locanda del Lago’s waiters are of the charming-Italian school: “Is this a special occasion,” one asked, “or a simple celebration of life?”

Maybe it’s something in the water. Locanda del Lago, 231 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica; (213) 451-3525. Entrees $9.75-$17.50.