Classic Italian Cuisine First-Class at Tuscany’s

A slogan painted over the bar at the new Tuscany restaurant in the La Costa section of Carlsbad advises patrons: “The Waters of the World Divide Us, the Wines of the World Unite Us.”

This may be as much a marketing effort as a statement of the restaurant’s philosophy, but what truly should unite Tuscany’s clientele is the cooking, which at a recent dinner was uniformly first-class.

Shopping center restaurants have become the norm, especially as North County growth quickly outstrips the supply of commercial space available in the area’s attractive but small downtowns. From the outside, Tuscany suggests nothing more than the ubiquitous salad-pizza-pasta place, which makes the warm interior and well-composed menu all the more pleasant a surprise.

Looks always rank lower on the scale of importance than a restaurant’s cuisine--or at least they should, although some clients value decor and ambience greatly--but Tuscany is attractive, a blend of the classical and modern that utilizes pillars, walls painted to look like sun-tamed plaster and other devices to suggest a Tuscan villa. Modern Italian classics are represented by the wall of black-and-white photographs of Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren and other ageless beauties.

Judging by the trays carried to tables all around the room, the simple house salad and somewhat dressier Caesar salad that head the appetizer list are heavy favorites.

Sampled was the antipasto misto , a platter of assorted vegetable hors d’oeuvres that served three guests quite nicely. It included such items as caponata (a pungent Sicilian vegetable stew, served chilled); the mixed pickled vegetables called giardinera , crisp and less assaultingly salty than elsewhere; good versions of grilled-and-marinated peppers, eggplant and zucchini, and the handsome compositions of sliced tomato, buffalo milk mozzarella and fresh basil, sprinkled lightly with cracked pepper, that travel under the name of caprese .

Other starters not sampled are baked clams topped with Italian bacon, herbs, pimento and cheese; and beef carpaccio and pasta e fagioli , a name that often means soup but here refers to a dish of cold Tuscan white beans mixed with small macaroni, escarole, shredded leeks and olive oil.

Baskets of hot, herb-dusted bread--coarse but light, and almost like unsweetened cake in texture--arrive throughout the meal from the wood-burning oven, a fairly standard piece of equipment in Italian restaurants these days. At Tuscany, as elsewhere, the oven turns out pizzas; only four are listed, including the traditional Neapolitan Margherita, topped simply with fresh tomato, mozzarella, oregano and olive oil; a spicier puttanesca model with anchovies, capers and olives, and the unusual Bellini, for which the garnish combines grilled eggplant, pesto, pine nuts, cheese and tomato with an unexpected sprinkling of risotto.

The pasta list offers a couple of house specialties, notably the fettuccine Tuscany, garnished with sauteed smoked salmon and a deglazing sauce of vodka, cream and Parmesan. The tagliatelle modenese is utterly superb, the sauce of veal, duck, mushrooms and aromatics (minced carrot, celery and onion) extended with small amounts of tomato and cream, just enough for smoothness. This was a suave pasta sauce, not unlike a really good bolognese , which very few restaurants here know how to make.

Other less-common choices would be the capelli d’angelo alla Firenze, or angel hair pasta with shrimp, Cognac, fresh tomato and herbs, and the rigatoni bocca calda (“hot mouth”), macaroni in a spicy tomato sauce enriched with mushrooms and minced pancetta bacon.

The entrees were ample but quite well done. Shrimp with lemon and capers, a typical dish, were fat and juicy prawns coated in flour and crisped before the cook added the light, tart sauce. Veal scallops with tomato, basil and garlic was the sort of simple dish that can be easily appreciated, well-balanced in flavor if not shy on the garlic, and the meat cooked to a tender finish. The nightly special of osso bucco looked like an entrant in a competition to build the world’s largest meatball, and was exceptionally meaty, savory and well-flavored. The bed of saffron rice that supported the cannonball of braised veal shank also was extremely well-flavored.

Among other dishes are several chicken preparations, salmon braised with shallots, wild mushrooms, dill and cream, and a vegetarian eggplant stuffed with cheese, tomato and basil.

The dessert tray, prepared in-house, includes a good version of the inevitable tiramisu and a very nice, plump, fluffy cannoli filled with sweetly spiced ricotta.

Tuscany

6981 El Camino Real, Carlsbad

Calls: 929-8111

Hours: Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly

Cost: Pastas and entrees $8.25 to $16.95; dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $65.