RESTAURANT REVIEW : Locanda del Lago: Hot, Cold, Happy

Last August, I had dinner at Locanda del Lago, right on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. The room, I thought, was lovely: There were cream-colored walls, beamed ceilings, a few tasteful plants, a few dark, if sentimental paintings. Through high, spotless windows, the view of the Promenade was endlessly entertaining. The service was prompt.

But just about everything else was all wrong: The bread was dry, the sparkling water was warm, a seafood salad was not particularly fresh and the chunks of meat in a dreary stew were cold in the middle and full of congealed fat. The check for all this was sizable. No wonder the place was practically empty.

Then, about a month ago I heard that Locanda del Lago had a new menu. I wasn’t in a hurry to rush back, but not long ago I did slip in for an early dinner . . . and found myself pleasantly surprised. One recent Monday night, virtually every table was filled and the crowd looked happy.

This time the bread was fresh and the mineral water was chilled. Insalata tricolore, made with very fresh radicchio, arugula and endive, was drizzled with a lively oil and vinegar dressing. I also liked the cool parsley-and-garlic dressing on a plate of haricots verts, though the skinny French green beans seemed a day or two past their prime.

Beef carpaccio was simple and attractive, nicely arranged in a flower-like pattern of good cheese, good oil, good beef and arugula. Ahi carpaccio was more confusing--a remarkably large portion of inelegantly sliced tuna heaped with basil, thin ribbons of celery and tomato and dressed with a too-sweet vinaigrette.

Almost everyone here seemed to go for the pasta. I understood this soon after sampling a plate of delicious spinach-filled ravioli in a light pesto-cream sauce. Small ricotta-and-spinach gnocchi tossed in butter and fresh sage looked like little green kibbles, but they were remarkably light. Porcini risotto was also quite good; it had absorbed a flavorful beef broth and was full of lots of big porcini mushrooms.

Unfortunately, the risotto milanese , which comes with the osso buco, had an almost medicinal dose of saffron in it. It looked pretty, all bright and yellow, but it didn’t taste very good. Also, the osso buco had not been heated all the way through, which meant there were cold spots, but the shank did have a compelling hint of orange rind and an excellent marrow bone.

Baked trout was stuffed with a mild pesto and served with a good mayonnaise and some nicely cooked vegetables.

For dessert, I ordered lemon cake and got instead a wedge of sugary, flat lemon meringue pie. Slightly more appealing were the profiteroles, a big mound of mini custard-filled cream puffs topped with chocolate sauce.

Throughout my meals here the service was smooth and attentive. And if there was a lull between courses, one could never be bored. For one thing, there’s always the chalkboard by the kitchen to read, full of the chef’s ratings of movies that are showing across the street from the place. “My Cousin Vinny” received the highest rating during my visits--three tortellini. “The Player” got just two tortellini.

“He’s not a very harsh critic,” I said to the maitre d’. “I don’t see any one-tortellini movies.”

“Too many moviemakers eat here,” the maitre d’ said. “We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Locanda del Lago, 231 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 451-3525. Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner seven nights. Full bar. Major credit cards. Valet parking at dinner. Dinner for two, food only, $30 to $65.