RESTAURANT REVIEW : Pane Caldo Does Best With Basics

The new news at Pane Caldo Bistrot is old news: The old chef, Nicholas Detz, after cooking on Catalina Island for a while, is back.

Pane Caldo can be found upstairs, through a maze of antique stores and art galleries. There is a small hooded bar at the restaurant entrance and the restaurant’s wood and rattan details have been faux-painted to appear weathered. If one doesn’t look too closely, it’s possible to imagine that this store-top bistro had been lifted from some humid tropical port and set down here on West Hollywood’s decorators’ row, with a fabulous view of the Hollywood Hills.

There are wobbly bentwood chairs, small tables, white tablecloths, aproned waiters, outdoor seating. The clientele is a neighborly mix of silk jackets and blue jeans; older couples, families and groups of young adults. You might witness a modest dinner party, a business dinner or, as I did one night, a handsome, older silk-jacket wearer nursing a martini and waiting for his date. (She, gorgeous and not too young, eventually arrived in a flourish of apology.)

Possibly the very best thing about Pane Caldo is that when you sit down you are promptly given a basket of warm bread and a complimentary plate of checca antipasto, chopped fresh tomatoes and croutons in garlicky oil. This gift of food is not only welcoming, it takes the immediate edge off one’s hunger.

There is nothing innovative about Pane Caldo’s standard continental/Italian food. Still, the large menu has appeal in that it includes plenty of favorites--polenta with wild mushrooms, baked radicchio, pasta e fagioli (bean and pasta soup), linguine with clam sauce.

The polenta was fluffy and good, though the baked radicchio was on the raw side and its Gorgonzola sauce was tasty but slightly grainy.

After several visits, I learned to regard the menu with somewhat tempered enthusiasm: The moderate-to-expensive food here is certainly not terrible, but it’s not remarkable either. The success of the carpaccio, for instance, a dish that relies on the sublimity of its few simple ingredients, was mitigated by a dressing with too much lemon and chewy, less-than-the-best Parmesan.

A certain ordinariness in the food prevails, and even seems to be the point: This is Italian food such as one might have at a country-club restaurant.

Predictably then, Pane Caldo shines brightest in its basics. The Caesar salad was just fine, as was the lightly dressed tri-colore salad with radicchio, arugula and Parmesan. A filet mignon with porcini mushrooms was a good, expertly cooked piece of meat. A chicken special (a whole boned chicken pounded and baked with garlic and rosemary) was succulent and delicious. The salmon steak was also of good quality and nicely prepared. Entrees came with golden cubes of roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables that were cut and steamed so that they perfectly resembled frozen mixed vegetables.

A pizza with thin slices of grilled eggplant was topped with chopped fresh spinach; the crust was ordinary and the toppings paired for no apparent reason. I was very happy, though, with the penne all’arrabbiata (with spicy-hot tomato sauce).

Despite the unevenness of the food, I invariably found myself relaxed and in no hurry to leave by the end of the meal (an admirable tirami su is one good reason to linger).

It would certainly be a mistake to come to Pane Caldo expecting state-of-the-art Italian cuisine. Nevertheless, it’s an easy-going, familiar and convenient place to gather for a meal. The service is prompt and thoughtful and on a clear night, with the lights of West Hollywood twinkling, there is a very pleasant sense of being aloft.

Pane Caldo Bistrot, 8840 W. Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 274-0916. Lunch Monday through Saturday, dinner seven nights. Full bar. Major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $31 to $71.