RESTAURANT REVIEW : Chef’s Food Is Better Than His Namesake

Antonio Orlando, formerly of Valentino and Fresco, is a wonderful chef. And the food at Antonio Orlando, his new namesake restaurant in Pasadena, has all his hallmark touches: top-quality ingredients, impeccable preparation, a kind of sparkling clarity in his classic Italian dishes. Also admirable is the fact that, as Antonio Orlando moved into being an independent chef-owner, the restaurants he’s been affiliated with have become less and less expensive, which makes his food more accessible to more people.

But while the chef is undeniably a talent, Antonio Orlando the restaurant is more problematic. It’s housed in the former site of a restaurant called One West California. Most floors and walls are brick. There are four separate dining areas--a bar area with red booths, a patio that faces the parking lot, a narrow side dining room, and a large interior brick-rich cavern that serves as a main dining room.

But there’s no heart in the place. I’ve eaten in each of the L.A.-area restaurants Orlando has cooked in and felt equally sidelined, as if the real, central, preferable place to be is located elsewhere in the restaurant--perhaps in the kitchen.

This vague sense of dislocation is not mitigated by the stuffy, fussy decor. Although there are ‘80s-era visible ducts and trusses, Antonio Orlando is a compendium of anachronistic fern-bar details.

Antonio Orlando also lacks the core of stunningly professional waiters who served his food at Fresco. While lunches were quietly and flawlessly served, dinners could be harrowing. One young woman interrupted us every two to three minutes to inquire how the food was, to pour Pellegrino water, to ask if we wanted more bread. Another night, we waited nearly 20 minutes in a less-than-half-full restaurant for someone to take our order. Several times we were served food and had no utensils to eat with. Also infuriating were the male servers who, except when taking orders, treated women as invisible and dealt exclusively with the men at the table.

Still, the food at Antonio Orlando’s makes it worth a visit.

The menu, at first glance, seems to be what we Southern Californians have come to regard as standard Italian cucina /bistro/ristorante fare: pizza, antipasti , insalata , pasta. Yet in many cases, the cooking is saucier, more varied, more built.

Pizzas are made on excellent chewy, thin crusts. I liked the simple alla checca with mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic, and also the all-white quattro formaggi --four cheeses with a bit of good prosciutto.

Appetizers are varied and often generous enough for two moderate eaters. Platters of sliced meats and cheeses are especially good for sharing. And I still think about the garlicky tomato broth: The menu doesn’t tell you it is full of shellfish and comes with a basket of bread-- focaccia with garlic, olive oil and rock salt. I also think about a bowl of pasta e faglioli : a white bean and macaroni soup with a hunting smokiness from good bacon.

But the tasty caponata , which would have been perfect at room temperature, was ice cold, making it seem too much like leftover vegetables served straight from the refrigerator.

Orlando does not spurn iceberg lettuce; he uses it effectively for crunch among softer, stronger-tasting leaves. His great chicken salad is available at lunch; it’s a good mix of greens tossed with Gorgonzola cheese and walnuts and topped with a succulent grilled chicken breast. And the Caesar is definitive.

My favorite pasta is the vermicelli primavera, which I had for lunch one day. Made with squash, carrots and onions, it is bright in flavor, and proof that an excellent cook can transform the simplest ingredients. The cheesy, heavily sauced duck lasagna is good but not remarkable. The spaghetti with fresh tuna is light and spicy.

Cacciucco , a huge plateful of perfectly cooked shrimp, fish, scallops, clams and mussels, is similar to the spicy tomato broth appetizer--but it doesn’t come with focaccia. Another good dish is sweet, fresh shrimp with white beans.

Roast chicken comes with pine nuts, which at first taste seems almost astringent in the way pine trees can sometimes smell sharply and cleanly. After a few more bites, however, it’s exactly that slight and pleasurable piney burn in the back of your throat that compels you to eat bite after bite.

A variety of pretty desserts are served, but I got hooked on the homemade sorbets--especially the smooth mango and the tart pineapple. The coffee is also consistently excellent. Too bad the dining room can’t be.

Antonio Orlando, 1 W . California Blvd., Suite 613, Pasadena, (818) 356-0086. Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday. Full bar. Major credit cards. Parking in lot. Dinner for two, food only, $32 - $70.