Is Tutto Mare’s Problem ‘Too Many Cooks . . .?’

Once your eyes have taken in the visual diversions at Tutto Mare--the strands of differently colored pasta that curtain parts of the open kitchen, the rich woods, upholstery and stone, the two sleek, curved seating areas that sweep past the stainless steel kitchen like the hurrying tail of the 20th Century--you notice the cooks.

It isn’t that they look unlike other cooks, it’s just that there are so many of them. While a corps de cuisine of this magnitude might bring white-hot tears of envy to the eyes of many local restaurateurs, that sad truth of two visits is that, if this many cooks did not quite spoil the broth, they proved unable to save it from mediocrity.

The frieze of swimming sea creatures sculpted above the kitchen reiterates what already is emphasized by the restaurant’s name: Tutto Mare, or “all the sea,” specializes in seafood. It barely needs mentioning that the menu is Italian; even if the name did not make the orientation clear, the assumption reasonably could be drawn from the fact that just about every major new eatery in San Diego has an Italian focus. And that’s all to the good, since the light touch characteristic of much Italian cooking is quite in line with contemporary tastes.

Tutto Mare, which occupies part of the ground floor of a new Golden Triangle office tower, joins the likable, year-old Prego in Mission Valley as the second prong of a local offensive waged by San Francisco-based Spectrum Foods. This upscale--some might say yup-scale, but how do you tell the difference these days?--chain opened the first Tutto Mare three years ago in Newport Beach and sent chef Corrado Gianotti to the Golden Triangle to achieve the same notable success enjoyed there.

Gianotti cut his cooking teeth on the Italian Riviera, whose restaurants, like virtually all of those along the Italian littoral, partly base their reputations on cautious handling of the local seafood. This chef has written a menu notable both for its inclusiveness and simplicity, which is too say that if offers impressive choice but treats most items in a fairly straightforward manner, as Italian cooks usually do. But the quality implied by the chic setting and the sizable cooking staff frequently fails to materialize.

The meal starts happily with a ritual conducted by the server, in which olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper are stirred together on the guests’ plates as a dip for the squares of fresh, flavorful focaccia bread that arrive with the menus; the gesture adds something to the simple act of breaking bread, and the dip is agreeably sharp, yet soft.

Carpaccio of fish could fairly be called Italian sashimi, and Tutto Mare offers two, of salmon cured in grappa (a rough Italian liqueur) and of tuna, first slightly grilled, then sliced and served warm but basically raw. Arranged against a hillock of deliciously bitter arugula, it looked quite appealing, but both fish and greenery were so heavily anointed with lemon juice that the mouth felt assaulted and all other flavors--as well as the fact that the tuna did not seem top grade--were overwhelmed. Precisely the same problem arose on a second visit, when an otherwise handsome salad of choice baby greens, hearts of palm, celery and Maine lobster chunks (an exquisite combination of textures) was so tarted up with lemon as to threaten diners with a state of permanent pucker.

Another starter, the mixed antipasto, drew on the wealth of composed dishes displayed at the dining room entry, and was as lovely to behold as it was difficult to consume. A few good offerings, especially the better-than-usual salami (for which the kitchen hardly can claim credit), the stuffed mussels, a toasted crust spread with excellent goat cheese and the refreshing salad of marinated shrimp and squid, by no means canceled out the poor ones. Worst of the lot were fried, marinated smelts that chewed like sticks, followed in short order by a none-too-fresh crab salad, tasteless grilled-marinated zucchini, and, conversely, grilled eggplant slices that tasted horribly of smoke, perhaps because the oil with which they were brushed was allowed to scorch.

At least the pastas came off well, especially linguine with a zesty tomato sauce and a garnish of half a Maine lobster. The pasta itself was beautifully made and cooked, the sauce hotly seasoned to emphasize the strong, briny flavor of the shellfish. Beautiful, perfectly cooked pasta again brought savor to the capellini alla checca , nicely dressed with barely cooked fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil. The pasta list also offers half-moons with a smoked salmon filling and a lemon-sorrel sauce; seafood-stuffed ravioli sauced with clams, tomato and garlic; pennette (“little quills”) with duck sausage, porcini and creamed tomato sauce, and a contemporary-sounding plate of black and white tagliolini finished with cream, scallops and pink peppercorns.

Mixed grills seem all the rage at present, and the entree list kicks off with the day’s selection of fish paired with grilled squid and a couple of jumbo prawns, also grilled and dressed with a grain mustard sauce that is tasty at first bite, but cloying thereafter. This plate recently included grilled, herbed halibut and oil-brushed salmon, both acceptable but by no means out of the ordinary. A whole Dover sole--a rarity in these parts, and usually a treat-- was grilled, then finished in the mesquite-fired oven and sent to the table, where a waiter expertly boned and served it. The flavor of mesquite smoke with so rare and delicate a fish was most unwelcome, and the texture was disagreeably soft; it also seemed as if flour had been rubbed into the surface, but rather than crisping, it became mush-like.

Quite un-mush-like, on the other hand, the rectangle of polenta that joined a length of wonderfully seasoned Italian sausage had a brick-like texture. A fine, stew-like medley of peppers joined the sausage and made the polenta easy to ignore.

In addition to the various fish of the day, the entree list offers a stew of fish and shellfish; grilled sea scallops with roasted peppers and a veal chop with prosciutto, Fontina cheese and sage butter.

If meals opened with dessert they would open well, because the cart sparkles with attractive sweets. Excellent choices, when available, include a superb hazelnut tart enriched with hazelnut paste and an elaborate, cake-like tiramisu .

TUTTO MARE

4365 Executive Drive, Golden Triangle

597-1188

Lunch Monday through Saturday, dinner nightly

Pastas and entrees cost $6.95 to $17.95; dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $80

Credit cards accepted