RESTAURANT REVIEW : Gourmet Takeout Comes to San Marino

A few months ago, I stumbled into Senso Unico when it was just a few days old. Located in a block-long row of interconnected shops in San Marino, this small Italian restaurant had placed its tables not only in the aisle joining all the shops, but also more or less in the shops themselves.

We had a choice of sitting in various clothing boutiques and/or the Gates, a beauty salon. Although the sunniest tables were in the beauty salon, the smell of permanent-wave solution drove us back down the aisle where we found an empty table next to a rack of bejeweled purple blouses selling for $160 each.

We had a great breakfast of fresh scones, panettone , cappuccino and a delicious steamed milk spiked with cinnamon. But we kept giggling at our surroundings. Eating in a fancy little retail store felt silly, fun and a little dangerous: One wouldn’t want to gesticulate too extravagantly with a buttered scone or laugh into one’s cappuccino lest the milk foam go flying onto expensive sportswear.

The City of San Marino, it turned out, wasn’t too crazy about Senso Unico’s table arrangements either: The next time I stopped by, there was no place to sit, only a petition to the city requesting permission to place a few tables within the restaurant itself. In the meantime, Senso Unico has become a takeout counter and catering company.

Good, unusual gourmet takeout is not nearly as ubiquitous on the Eastside as it is on the Westside, so even without any seating, Senso Unico is a significant resource.

The menu is essentially sandwiches, pasta, pizza and salads, which sounds far more prosaic than the unusual, often wonderful food produced here. My first sandwich was the “Mary Louise,” a disc of fresh, house-made focaccia stuffed with prosciutto, bitter radicchio and enough mascarpone cheese to send one reeling in butterfat bliss. Le due Sicilie sounds a bit ordinary--salami, mortadella, mozzarella and mayonnaise--but the bread and the mayonnaise were freshly made in-house. Sandwiches don’t get much better than these.

A juicy Caesar salad has especially good anchovies on it. The Insalata del Gran Duca , with radicchio, romaine, endive, and pine nuts, is lightly dressed with good oil and balsamic vinegar and topped with generous slabs of Reggiano Parmesan. I am especially fond of Senso Unico’s vegetables: garlicky spinach served cold, wonderful roasted peppers with good black olives and fat juicy capers.

Every month now, Senso Unico has a series of pasta and pizza specials. These specials are inventive, unusual, often very good and occasionally disappointing. I loved the farfalle sauteed in oil and paprika with shrimp; the pasta gave off a slow and subtle peppery heat that matched the sweet, fresh shrimp. A simple, colorful pasta salad, also made with bow ties, with chickpeas, fresh peas, fresh corn, carrot slivers and rosemary-scented olive oil was wonderful. So was the linguine with grated onions and the faintest touch of tomato.

On the other hand, rotelle (corkscrew pasta) with walnuts was dry and way too rich; I lost interest after four or five bites. Also disappointing was linguine with chive pesto and smoked salmon.

Pizzas, however, are excellent. The crusts are nice and chewy and the toppings are interesting. The Senso Unico pizza, for instance, is a successful balancing act between the sharp (prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes) and the bland (ricotta cheese, artichoke hearts). A special pizza, with artichoke hearts and strong Gorgonzola, was rich and pungent--but delicious. Then there’s “Pizza Pazza” (Crazy Pizza), which features red onions, fresh mozzarella, peanut butter and pineapple. I’m not certain if one has to be crazy to order it or if eating it makes one crazy and I haven’t had the courage to find out.

Of the seductive-looking desserts on display in the cold case, the cookies are by far the best bet. Forget the lavish-looking strawberry and whipped cream roll, which is a little dry and ordinary; there’s far more flavor per bite in the peppery orange-flavored biscotti, the chocolatey chocolate-meringue cookies, the demure-looking coconut macaroons.

Senso Unico, 2527 Mission St., San Marino, (818) 441-3138. Open Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $22 - $48.