Great Reds and Whites That Are Light on the Green

Massimo Navaretta has plenty to sing about these days, so prepare for an earful.

Orange County’s most cheerful restaurateur has just added an enoteca (wine room) to Amici, putting his already formidable Costa Mesa restaurant in a class by itself among local Italian dinner houses.

It has taken over a dozen years, but Navaretta and partner Salvatore Cesareo have slowly amassed a 1,000-bottle collection of great Italian wines, including the aptly named super-Tuscans, such as Ornelaia and Sassicaia, plus Barbarescos from Angelo Gaja, venerable Brunellos such as the famous Biondi-Santi and a host of vintage Barolos. Now the investment is paying off.

“I always knew Italian wines would enjoy a world-class reputation one day,” says Navaretta, decanting one of his red superstars at our table. That day has come. Wine enthusiasts today consider these wines the equal of great Bordeaux. They certainly match this cuisine more elegantly than their French cousins.

But don’t squeeze that wallet just yet. Quality Italian wine can be had for a song here too, and that’s the beauty of this concept. Navaretta has built a glass-enclosed, air-cooled cantina to house these beauties just behind the enoteca, a room in which modestly priced labels are treated as well as the royalty. Tour this room, and then sample one or two vintages at the enoteca’s short marble-topped bar, where a daily selection is poured. You’ll think you’re in Tuscany before too long.

That’s the way the owners intended it, certainly. The wine room isn’t exactly high-tech, but it is modern: all clean lines and warm colors. There is none of the intimate, Art Deco clutter of the main dining area, but instead a more spacious, sensible appeal that evokes modern Italy itself. Where you choose to sit will depend on your mood, I guess. The original room is romance. The wine room is fun.

This menu should accommodate almost any mood. Navaretta and Cesareo, who take turns in the kitchen, produce food from almost every province in Italy. I like to begin with their antipasto misto, a platter of grilled eggplant and escarole, fagiolini (marinated Italian beans), deliciously oily roasted red peppers, onions marinated in balsamic vinegar and the crowning touch of insalata caprese : tender bufala mozzarella atop a slice of ripe tomato. A cold white wine from Friuli makes a wonderful accompaniment.

The house antipasto is meatless, so if you want cold cuts you have to order them separately. Affetato misto is a good one, a plateful of soppressata, thinly sliced Genoa salami, good prosciutto and sharp provolone cheese. Navaretta says it goes wonderfully well with Chianti. Another is tuna carpaccio : albacore, pounded thin, dribbled with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, onions and capers. Bravissimo.

The hot appetizers include vongole oreganate, which are tiny clams in a salty, garlicky broth, and cozze , poached mussels in a heady marinara sauce. They feel a bit heavy, though, and will surely overwhelm delicate wines--or delicate palates.

I’m nuts about Amici’s pasta e fagioli soup--a dead giveaway that Navaretta and Cesareo are from the city of Naples. Romans claim their soup of short pasta and Italian beans in light broth is the original pasta e fagioli. Ha! Amici’s version, a garlic and tomato soup with beans and pasta thrown in, is the soul of Naples. Only the inkiest red wine could stand up to it properly.

Needless to say, there is an entire page of pastas on this menu, to go along with a few good risottos. Rigatoni puttanesca is a Neapolitan specialty, despite what the Romans tell you. It’s basically another dish of short pasta in a thick tomato sauce with black olives, capers and anchovies, but here the anchovy has been sneakily mashed in. “People have a thing about anchovies,” says Navaretta with a shrug.

The linguine al pesto is lightly sauced and on the mild side, a claim the spicy penne arrabiata, cannot make, loaded as it is with crushed red pepper. The best risotto here is probably the one made with prosciutto and porcini mushrooms, a chewy version with a rich, flavorful finish. You’re into the reds for sure with this dish, and will probably stay there throughout the main dishes.

Scampi, made with oversized Mediterranean prawns, eaten out of the shell, still get top billing at Amici. At various times during the year, the boys cheat a bit and import the prawns from New Zealand or Iceland, but no matter. Order up a platterful, either alla estiva, with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic; gratinati, with olive oil and bread crumbs, or alla griglia, grilled plain. They are just terrific.

Then go on to heartier main courses such as agnello al balsamico, pollo alla chiantigiana and wonderful split Italian sausages, all served with triangles of polenta and roasted pepper. The agnello is a revelation, grilled baby lamb chops spooned up with a dark sauce made from balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic. The chicken would be a far more rustic choice, but also perhaps a more satisfying one. It is roasted farmhouse style with rosemary and potatoes.

Try to save room for good desserts like poached pear in Barolo with mascarpone cream, the dependable house tiramisu and frothy zabaglione fritti, a cold suspension of egg yolks, marsala wine and sugar.

Those squiggly shaped hand-blown glass bottles you see on the wall contain designer grappas, the Italian fire water with legendary price tags. You’ll be singing a tune yourself if you don’t price one before ordering, and it won’t be light opera.

Amici is moderate to expensive. Antipasti are $5.95 to $8.95. Minestre e paste are $3.95 to $8.95. Main dishes are $9.95 to 18.95.

* AMICI

* 3220 Park Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* (714) 850-9399.

* Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sundays.

* All major credit cards accepted.