San Diego Spotlight : Clowns Set Tone for Decor, Inconsistency for the Food

The clowns at the new Pagliacci in Horton Plaza are not restricted to the dining room. At least a few populate the kitchen, which sends out such a mixed bag of average, good and mediocre cooking that one is tempted to turn to the management and say, “Surely, you jest?”

The brainchild of P. J. Macaluso, the former New York restaurateur whose well-conceived Manhattan, Paparazzi and P. J. Wolf restaurants in La Jolla and the Golden Triangle enjoy enviable success, Pagliacci has all the makings of a terrific crowd-pleaser.

The menu, a virtual reprint of the list at Paparazzi, is something of a mid-price encyclopedia of basic Italian cooking. And, like Paparazzi, this cavernous eatery (housed in the quarters formerly occupied by the Harbor House and Top of the Plaza restaurants) stations delicatessen and pastry cases near the entry to double as visual appetizers for arriving diners and retail counters for passers-by. Unlike Paparazzi, however, the cooking is not uniformly reliable, and if some dishes sing, others fail to achieve a single grace note.

A master of theme, Macaluso has designed the restaurant, named for the Leoncavallo opera “I Pagliacci” (“The Clowns”), as a tribute to both clowns and the circus. An immense oil of the great singer Enrico Caruso, who adopted the lead in “Pagliacci” as his signature role, reigns over the main dining room, which is furnished with walls tiled in a harlequin pattern, a sloping fabric roof that suggests the big top, and pillars striped like circus tent poles.

In the front room, an oil of rotund opera star Luciano Pavarotti, again garbed for “Pagliacci” (although he never has sung the part), gazes down rather longingly at the cases of cakes and pastries baked on the premises. For better or worse, glass shelves on two walls display several score of clown figurines that not only reinforce the theme but are most definitely and pointedly for sale. The hostess, in fact, leads first-time visitors on a mandatory tour that includes a stop at the clown displays and a mention that any of them can be yours.

The tour also leads guests past a tiled antipasto pavilion at which a young cook turns out a largely respectable selection of classic Italian appetizers. The well-composed vegetable offerings seem the solid foundation on which Macaluso has erected his impressive but somewhat shaky tent. Recent displays have offered a more-than-respectable caponata , a Sicilian-style ratatouille that takes eggplant to its zenith; fleshy, spiced green olives; the usual cold cuts and cheeses; a toss of artichoke and palm hearts touched with a taste of mint; roasted peppers of no particular finesse, and the layerings of sliced tomato, mozzarella and basil known as caprese . A plate of any five of these costs $6.50 and is large enough to serve as a light meal.

The restaurant’s second bastion is the wood-burning brick oven that quickly bakes discs of dough and assorted toppings into fine, fluffy pizzas. The simple, classic Margherita, dressed simply with tomato, mozzarella and basil, is handsomely composed and arrives bubbling and aromatic. Pagliacci does not go in for “designer” pies--the list goes no further than a primavera model decorated with vegetables--but does offer a tomato-free bianca (“white”) pizza and the Gustavo, garnished with mushrooms and roasted chicken.

Anyone who orders an appetizer, a pizza and (with some caution or discrimination, since the tray is uneven) dessert, should leave this restaurant smiling and perhaps even humming a circus tune.

The pastas and entrees sampled on a pair of recent visits left a great deal to be desired, however, a surprising fact in light of the quality that Macaluso turns out at his other establishments.

The rigatini (small rigatoni, or grooved macaroni tubes) a la vodka, a sophisticated Roman dish that in the right hands tosses the pasta with a creamed tomato sauce made fiery with red pepper and racy with a touch of vodka was, simply put, a mess in which the cream and seasonings were absent and the remaining pasta with tomato was decidedly dull. Agnolotti mezzeluna (half-moon-shaped ravioli) filled with a mince of shellfish and dressed with white sauce were much better, the sea flavor clean and definite, although the portion seemed somewhat stingy. Other choices include potato dumplings with four cheeses; meat and spinach manicotti; “rustic” fettuccine with peas, mushrooms, olives and ham, and linguine dei Castelli Romani, whose name specifies the wine-growing hill towns east of Rome as its point of origin and includes sausage, roasted peppers, tomato and ricotta cheese.

Sausage and peppers reappear as the first entree listing and disappoint terribly, since both meat and vegetable are cut into snippets and scattered, rather parsimoniously, over a vast field of dull noodles. This is no way to treat a classic of Italian home cooking. Pollo al Vesuvio, or sauteed chicken breast dressed with peppers, onions, potatoes and--supposedly--accents of garlic and lemon, was more than a little distant from volcanic in its flavors. The slices of pork tenderloin sauteed with cherry peppers and garlic in the maiale alla New York could have been tender had they been pounded with the flat side of a cleaver; the sauce that moistened the tough meat did no favor to the reputation of its namesake city. Pork reappears in a saltimbocca , with prosciutto and lemon and with mushrooms and Marsala.

Among other entrees are veal Marengo, chicken with artichoke hearts, stuffed peppers and beef tenderloin in spicy (one would hope) pizzaiola sauce.

The desserts largely seem less well-made than at other Macaluso houses, although the langousta , a flaky-pastry “lobster” filled with a rum cream, continues to please, and the mousse-based chocolate torte is fudgy and rich. The chocolate cannoli would be better were the title ingredient in the filling rather than wrapped around the pastry tube.

PAGLIACCI

Horton Plaza, top level, San Diego

595-5500

Lunch and dinner daily

Pastas and entrees $6.95 to $18.95. Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $60

Credit cards accepted