A Longing to Linger at Benvenuto

Why are some new Italian cafes instant successes while others plummet quietly into oblivion? Food clearly is not the factor, or at least not the only one: Some of the most bustling establishments (Pasadena’s Mi Piace, Santa Monica’s La Vecchia) have quite average food, while other promising kitchens (Bertuccia Trattoria and the garlic-loving Raffaelo’s in West Hollywood) have gone under. Location helps, though even restaurants in prime properties flounder while remote hole-in-the-wall joints flourish. Attitude and atmosphere no doubt factor in, too.

West Hollywood’s Benvenuto is one of the new Italian cafes that has just taken off. Small, hut-like, set back from the street with a tiny candlelit patio, this little cafe just pops. After, say, 8 o’clock, there are invariably clumps of people standing around out front waiting for a table.

We formed such a clump one night for half an hour or more. And we couldn’t help noticing that a good half of the people dining on the patio had finished dinner, and were just lingering. Nobody was rushing them off. If we were impatient, it wasn’t that we wanted anybody pushed out. More, we were jealous. We wanted to linger too.

There are reasons to wait and linger at Benvenuto. A certain coziness, for one. The dining room is as closely packed as many a trendy bistro, but muted with candlelight and electric light suffused behind large wood sconces. The decor is simple and playful; striking wall designs are made of varnished composition board. A fibrous curtain of green, yellow and orange raffia frames the kitchen where a prominent wood-burning brick oven serves as a hearth. Benvenuto’s clientele, which is largely but not exclusively male, is fit and attractive. With two major gyms down the street, the cafe offers a steady parade of well-sculpted pecs, lats, abs and, most notably, highly conspicuous biceps.

But the modest pizza/pasta/grill menu holds no surprises. The food itself is clean, simple Italian cooking. Diners are greeted with baskets of hot focaccia and plates of olive oil. Service is good-humored, except deep in the dinner rush, when it’s erratic.

Everything we ordered before the entrees--appetizer, soup, salad and/or pizza--tended to be served simultaneously. Antipasto misto , the contents of which may change on a daily basis, was a murky collection of marinated grilled eggplant, pepper and mushrooms. Red-meat eaters will find the carpaccio di manzo a pretty arrangement of bright-pink, thin slices of raw beef arranged over a small hump of mixed baby greens dusted with Parmesan cheese. The Caesar was fresh with lively flavor, but there wasn’t enough dressing to touch the large, hard croutons, and the Parmesan was coarsely grated into hard, curiously chewy strings.

Benvenuto’s minestrone is exemplary, clear and simple, with nary an elbow of macaroni or garbanzo bean in sight.

On first taste, I was not impressed by the Calabrese pizza with goat cheese, black olives and mozzarella. The crust was actually fluffy, an odd quality for a pizza. But I was won over by the contrast between the lightness of the crust with the sharp goat cheese and scattered, strong olives.

More traditional--and less satisfying--was the pizza alla salsiccia, which had a chewier crust and a tomato-sauce topping with sausage, arugula and mozzarella.

Simple to the extreme was the tagliolini alle vongole , a plate of fresh clams on a heap of winey pasta. It was an almost-good plate of food. The clams were tasty, but there were only a few of them, and the tagliolini wouldn’t twirl up.

I had the opposite problem with ravioli de magro , several big, flappy spinach-filled pasta purses covered with velvety tomato sauce, fresh basil and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. I couldn’t stop eating it.

Benvenuto’s squarest meals come from the menu’s griglia (grill) section. A hunk of baked rabbit was fluffy--that word again--and nicely seasoned with chopped tomato, basil and pine nuts. A roasted half chicken was crisp-skinned and moist.

In and of itself, the food wouldn’t bring me back to Benvenuto. Neither would the design or the location. The line to get in is downright discouraging. Still, Benvenuto has its own pleasures: Lots to look at. Reasonable prices. Friendly service. Good espresso. And, best of all, no rush to turn the tables.

* Benvenuto Cafe, 8512 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 659-8635. Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner seven nights. Full bar. Valet parking. MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $28 to $45.