San Diego Spotlight : La Strada Hops Aboard the Gaslamp’s Bandwagon

The Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century transferred the production of virtually all everyday goods from the hands of individual craftsmen to the factories that we now take for granted. The basic tenet of this system is that a team of workers, each assigned a specific task, can produce an item more quickly and efficiently than a craftsman toiling alone.

A new application of the principle than an entity can be broken into component parts and reassembled with greater efficiency seems to have been discovered by La Strada, the newest Italian restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter (more are on the way). Both in appearance and menu, La Strada seems a synthesis of the generic San Diego Italian restaurant of the ‘90s (so far), with successful elements borrowed from elsewhere and blended in a high-gloss manner that seems to tell patrons: “We are exactly what you want us to be.”

The look of the place is hip, none-too-formal and very Gaslamp, as typified by the broad, uncurtained windows that look out on the neighborhood’s increasingly busy streets; the high, airy, ceilings; the patches of vaguely antique-looking murals and the busy open kitchen centered by a monumental brick, wood-burning oven. This type of oven, which failed to save the first couple of San Diego restaurants that troubled to introduce one, is now so necessary, especially in the Gaslamp, that it is hard to imagine any Italian restaurateur daring to open a place without one. None of this is a criticism, by the way, although the number of places currently adopting this standardized look seems to be ushering in the age of the Italian “theme” restaurant.

The menu is compartmentalized into the types of dishes that sell quite well at the moment, such as carpaccios, salads, pizzas and pastas. In fact, it even seems based on specific ingredients that enjoy a current vogue; to describe it as a menu built on a foundation of arugula would not be unreasonable. Because this peppery green straddles the boundary between lettuce and herb and brings zest to a variety of situations--and arugula is tasty stuff, make no doubt--La Strada uses it liberally, including in such entrees as the veal rolls braised in chopped tomato ( braciola alla contadina ) and the tagliata di filetto , or sliced filet mignon dressed with mustard, olive oil and arugula.

Formal entrees--there are but six--are by no means the mainstay of this menu. All the dishes sampled were from less substantial categories, which on several occasions were decidedly less substantial than they ought to have been, especially at the price. Both the pastas sampled featured a ratio of pasta to sauce that weighed heavily in favor of the noodles and went rather beyond admirable restraint in terms of sauce, particularly in the case of the fettuccine al funghetto . Funghetto , often prepared as a rich, savory brown sauce brimming with forest mushrooms, here was prepared as a few, slightly cooked slices of fresh wild mushroom mixed with a bit of tomato, garlic and parsley. “Light” cooking may be in vogue, but this dish carried the principle to an extreme. The pappardelle , a broader sort of egg noodle, are offered all’agnello , or in a pleasantly rich sauce of minced lamb that, while excellent, again could have been applied with greater generosity.

The pizzas are foreshadowed by the basket of “pizza bread” triangles, basted with olive oil and herbs, that arrives at the start of the meal. A good, crisp snack, it is thin and dry enough that one guest mistook it for lavosh, or Armenian cracker bread, and found it somewhat wanting as a base for the special “La Strada” pizza. Again in the light mood, this pie (to use the term quite loosely) skips cheese altogether and tops the crust with a very good, highly seasoned tomato sauce, sliced ham, mushrooms and lettuce leaves, an ingredient that adds more than might be supposed. Other pizza choices include the verdure , topped with cheese and vegetables; the traditional Margherita with mozzarella, tomato and basil; the bianca e rosa (“white and red”) with mozzarella and prosciutto, and the mare , topped with fish, tomato, garlic and olive oil.

Crostini , or bread slices baked with various toppings, are increasingly popular and lead the La Strada menu. Immediately following is another currently popular starter, a plate of marinated fresh vegetables that offers good variety, although some might have been a little less resilient to the tooth. Fairly new to San Diego (Madeo serves an excellent version) is the starter of finely sliced baby artichokes, piled into a bowl, moistened with lemon and oil and hidden from sight under overlapping sheets of Parmesan. It’s good. The combination of mozzarella, tomato and basil that elsewhere goes under the name caprese follows, pursued by a saute of baby squid with spinach and tomato sauce, a seafood antipasto plate and a more typical antipasto sampler of meats, marinated veggies and crostini .

Carpaccio has gained great favor in recent years, and La Strada takes note of this by listing this category of dish under its own heading. Paper-thin slices of raw beef are available topped either with arugula and shaved Parmesan, or sliced artichokes and Parmesan (a second use of the salad mentioned above).

More arugula enters into the “La Strada” salad, which also includes a few raw wild mushrooms (none too flavorful), some walnuts and a topping of shaved Parmesan, yet another recently popularized and likable garnish of which this restaurant makes much use. There was nothing on this plate to justify the $7.25 price tag, a comment also applicable to the patrizia salad of mozzarella, palm hearts, arugula (of course!), avocado and shaved Parmesan.

Unsampled pasta choices include farfalline (“little butterflies”) with Gorgonzola and radicchio and penne with mixed bell peppers, or with assorted seafood and tomato sauce.

Everyone serves tiramisu these days, and La Strada’s is a rather soupy pudding of no distinction. A jam-like strawberry sauce spoils the effect of the crema cotta , or “baked cream.”

LA STRADA 702 5th Ave., San Diego 239-3400 Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly Pastas and entrees cost $8.50 to $14.95; dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $70 Credit cards accepted