RESTAURANTS : Well-Hidden A’Roma Is Worth Discovering

It takes an active imagination to conjure up images of Rome while staring at the Riverside Freeway, but that is exactly what A’Roma Ristorante asks you to do.

It’s a tall order. Who can say an industrial park in La Palma reminds them of the Piazza di Spagna? And then there are all those trucks whizzing by overhead. They aren’t heading to the Trastevere--we know that much.

But once you start eating, it’s easy to forget all that.

A’Roma is a terrific addition to the North County dining scene, thanks to the talents of chef Tino Maggiore and manager Pietro Boccanfuso. Maggiore earned a solid reputation at his Long Beach restaurant, Andiamo, and much of Andiamo’s menu is repeated here. Boccanfuso comes from the now-defunct Gianni at South Coast Plaza, where he ran, in my opinion, one of the best Italian restaurants in Orange County.

The restaurant is simple and spacious, designed for comfort rather than elegance. The main dining room is brighter than most others of the genre, with salmon-colored walls, abundant plants and an industrial-type dropped ceiling. A smaller, more attractive room on the other side of the hostess stand is worth a look-see even when it’s not open for service. It’s as much gallery as dining room, full of wonderful black and white prints by famous photographers such as Cartier-Bresson.

A’Roma is so hidden in a maze of freeways that it’s almost impossible to discover by accident. And because it’s situated in a business complex, it does most of its business at lunch. The lunchtime focus is on light entrees, sandwiches and pizzas, but there are several fresh pastas and secondi piatti (entrees) to distract you.

The pizzas are particularly good, with medium-thin crusts and good toppings. A cheeseless pizza has a diced tomato, mushroom, red onion and roasted garlic topping, and there is a terrific pizza ricotta e melanzane with grilled eggplant and ricotta cheese.

I’m a sucker for A’Roma’s sandwiches ( panini ), served on the restaurant’s puffy focaccia bread. They are overstuffed and wonderfully springy in texture--simply some of the most seductively conceived sandwiches around. Pisano is ham, salami, provolone and balsamic vinegar--a dream sub. Fiorentino is richer and more like what you’d get in Italy, with prosciutto, capocollo, roasted peppers and a big smear of creamy mascarpone cheese.

Mascarpone also tempts you during the evening here, when the menu is quite a bit more sophisticated and you pretty much have the place to yourself. A large dollop of it comes in a pool of good marinara sauce as a spread for the house focaccia. If I may quote the ancient Romans: Caveat emptor . If you eat your share of this staggeringly rich stuff, you’ll never make it to dinner.

A pity if you don’t, because you’ll miss great appetizers such as hot antipasto fantasia--a medley of clams, mussels and scampi, all stuffed with bread crumbs and herbs--and especially tender fried calamari, lightly dusted with flour and virtually greaseless.

The wonderful soups are another way to go. The restaurant’s minestrone Genovese is one of the most colorful versions anywhere, an entire garden in a bowl: green peas, fresh basil, carrots, celery, potato and white beans, all swimming in a tomato-rich broth. The pasta e fagioli is a wonderful thick version, rich with pasta and white beans. Rich indeed; better make that a cup instead of a bowl.

If you’ve survived to this point, dive into a few of the pastas. The menu lists 23 of them, and manager Boccanfuso says: “Let us know if we don’t have what you want. We’ll make it.”

That won’t be necessary. Agnolotti di aragosta are delicate crescent-shaped pillows filled with a mixture of lobster and whitefish in a light sherry cream sauce; the only drawback is that they have a touch too much salt. I like the gnocchi here very much, although the rest of my table found them a little mushy. I’m referring, of course, to the little flour and potato dumplings, here simmered in a light tomato sauce.

If you plan to order a secondo piatto, you might as well know that you are going to get pasta on the side, not to mention vegetables and a salad, so it’s not worth ordering a pasta as well. The side pastas are good ones, usually from the menu. The last evening I dined here the pasta was pennette alla Caprese, thin tubular pasta with basil and Parmesan cheese.

The cruel thing about A’Roma is that the secondi piatti are the richest and most irresistible things coming out of this kitchen. I didn’t think I could eat another bite when out came something called scampi a la Romana, which were terrific jumbo shrimp sauteed in olive oil, white wine and garlic.

Then there’s a dish called veal cuscionetto Piemontese. When you attack these “cushions” of veal with a fork, delicious white cheese comes drooling out, mingling mercilessly with the mushrooms and red wine in the sauce. They practically had to wheel me out after this one.

If you have been moderate in the early courses, you can consider having dessert. There is a light-style tiramisu served in a cocktail glass, minus the ladyfingers but intense with coffee flavor, and a fluffy ricotta cheesecake--both made on the premises.

But don’t despair if you don’t get this far. A’Roma isn’t eaten in a day.

A’Roma Ristorante is moderately expensive. Appetizers are $4.95 to $7.95. Primi piatti (pasta) are $7.95 to $13.95. Secondi piatti are $10.95 to $16.95.

A’ROMA RISTORANTE

30 Center Point Drive, La Palma.

(714) 523-3729.

Open Monday through Friday for lunch, 11 a.m. through 3 p.m.; daily for dinner, 4 through 10 p.m.

MasterCard and Visa accepted.