RESTAURANTS : SOMETHING FROM THE OVEN : A Bakery’s Kitchen, Menu and Room May Have Expanded, But Its Bread Is Still Primo

Attention, Beverly Hills shoppers: Food is being served in the Il Fornaio bakery.

Well, Il Fornaio has always had some food available with its pane rustico , but now there’s a lot more. The bread lover’s landmark spent months remodeling to this end. Now, the bread, pastry and coffee operation is confined to an alcove on the right, and the rest of the place has blossomed into rows of little tables leading down to a mural of an Italian street scene.

These are shoppers’ tables, mostly seating two, though they’re close enough that four people at adjacent tables can feel as if they’re sitting together. (In spite of the close seating, Il Fornaio is actually quieter than a lot of other Westside restaurants, thanks to a high ceiling.) If you’re really in a hurry to hit the shops, you can buy an Italian sandwich from Il Fornaio’s express window, one of the few takeout windows on this particular stretch of Beverly Drive.

So what do you eat here--apart from the omnipresent basket of Italian breads and the chewy fresh bread sticks glistening with big salt crystals? The next best things to bread, of course--thin-crust pizzas, a calzone and a sort of low-rise calzone they call focaccia, which is folded over a mixture of thin-sliced red onions, pine nuts and Gorgonzola (a bit too much of that loud cheese, perhaps).

But there’s a lot more, both homey and elegant, with the homey stuff having a definite edge. Zuppa di fagioli e orzo is just what the name says, a big bowl of simple Tuscan-bean-and-barley soup, which can hit the spot on a cold day. Polenta con funghi trifolati doesn’t sound nearly as wonderfully homey as it is, fragrant with corn and cheese flavors, the wild mushrooms a mere garnish. Pappa col pomodoro is pure mom food, a warm mush of tomatoes and bread and rather a lot of oregano.

The appetizer list includes what we expect of a Westside Italian restaurant--mozzarella, fried calamari, cold stuffed artichoke hearts. The pasta selection is more distinctive. Maltagliati con cinghiale , broad noodles in wild boar sauce, is a hairy-chested version of the traditional tomato-based meat sauce. Lasagna d’anatra is filled with duck ragout plus bechamel, making for a rich and somewhat vague meat-sauce effect. It’s nice, but I suspect it won’t replace beef or cheese lasagna.

Tortelloni--sometimes stuffed with fish, sometimes with lamb (which gives a piquantly medieval touch )--often appear on special in luxurious saffron cream sauce. But the most interesting-sounding stuffed pasta, mezzelune alle erbe amare , is quite bland despite its filling of dandelion greens and ricotta cheese. And I’d never order another risotto here, after an impossibly stodgy pancetta-and-radicchio version that was a little like chewing rice and glue.

The kitchen’s reach exceeds its grasp surprisingly often. Duck marinated in balsamic vinegar, often available on special, has delicious skin but mushy flesh. Sometimes there is rabbit wrapped in pancetta, and again the flavor is pretty good (and like most entrees, it comes with bits of fresh peppers and squashes and wonderful little roasted potatoes), but the flesh is dry, even for rabbit.

The entree to order is the one that’s staring you right in the face--the roast chicken. The display kitchen’s prominently featured rotisserie rack wheels big birds around in front of a fire, giving them a quarter turn with each revolution. The resulting chicken is moist and richly flavored, everything you want in a roast chicken. You could order the grilled rosemary chicken breast on a bed of spinach, but you won’t have nearly as much fun.

Bistecca fiorentina is a porterhouse steak served with Tuscan beans and a lemon wedge. Bistecchina alla padana comes from an entirely different tradition: thin-cut sirloin, nearly covering the plate, topped with raw arugula and shaved Parmesan. Sure, it’s a lot like steak and salad dumped together, but it’s curiously refreshing.

At dessert time, the choices include the old Italian favorites, such as meringata --a layer of meringue topped with a mound of whipped cream and white chocolate with some bits of dark chocolate hidden inside--and affogato al caffe , a mug of white chocolate ice cream and espresso. Torta di mele e noci is a very sweet European nut tart, a bit like pecan pie made with walnuts, with a layer of barely cooked apple slices on top, presumably to cut the sweetness.

The best and the worst of the desserts come straight from Il Fornaio’s bread-making heritage. The bread pudding isn’t actually bad-- it’s just a very plain bread pudding and scarcely deserves to be one of the more expensive desserts here. On the other hand, the deliciously chewy Italian cookies, biscotti assortiti , are just the thing to accompany espresso.

Tiramisu is also based on a baked product, ladyfinger biscuits. If you’re going to make tiramisu with a lighter mascarpone flavor, this is the way to do it: neat layers of ladyfingers, cocoa and espresso flavorings, with the cream mixture whipped so thick it’s almost butter.

Despite the glitches, Il Fornaio is a great place to eat. Or even to shop--you could take home some of those cakes or biscotti.

Il Fornaio Cucina Italiana, 301 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills; (310) 550-8330 (bakery, 550-0303). Full bar. Valet parking on Dayton Way after 6 p.m. Breakfast, lunch and dinner served daily. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $32-$60.