Just Wait Till You Get a Taste of Sfuzzi

We were forced to wait for our table at Sfuzzi, but not because the restaurant was full. As a matter of fact, it was half empty.

Sfuzzi (pronounced “foozy”) is the latest addition to a Dallas-based chain of upscale Italian bistros (it has 16 branches from Boston to San Diego, with more undoubtedly to come). The restaurant is huge, ostentatious and dramatic, with trompe l’oeil Roman arches, a vaulted ceiling soaring 30 feet and a marble pizza bar sheltering a brick oven complete with gleaming copper hood.

Oddly, it opened in mid-December without the usual new-restaurant fanfare. But word of mouth, combined with a highly visible placement in the glittery Triangle Square mall in Costa Mesa, has brought the bistro more business than anticipated.

That’s why we ended up in the bar, staring enviously at the blond-and-tan Newporters in the dining room already nibbling voraciously on their salads and pizzas.

“We don’t have enough waiters to work the empty tables,” explained the harried hostess. “If we seat you now, you’ll just sit there and starve.”

Perhaps it is preferable to sit in the bar and starve, but when you’re hungry, that’s cold comfort. Twenty-odd minutes later, we were seated in precisely the area that the hostess had originally refused us--the outer tables next to the bar. The managers seemed less than pleased to be seating us in this unmanned expanse, but no one near the windows facing Newport Boulevard, where that evening’s seating was concentrated, was willing to budge.

I can understand that. Sfuzzi is a pretty nifty place to dine, and I like this food quite a bit. Many of the recipes were developed by Sfuzzi’s corporate chef, Steven Singer, a refugee from the very famous Spago in West Hollywood and the pretty famous Parkway Grill in Pasadena. Sfuzzi calls itself an Italian bistro, but I’d say the food here is solidly in the California Cuisine camp.

Oh, you are greeted with fresh focaccia and ciabatta breads, as well as by a smiling busboy who fills your ceramic saucer with herbed olive oil for dipping, and every table has unopened bottles of San Pellegrino mineral water (which the waiters peddle aggressively). But what exactly is so Italian about smoked chicken pizza with caramelized onions, goat cheese and rosemary? Or grilled salmon with haricots verts , crisp potatoes and citrus basil sauce? Or warm apple blueberry cobbler with vanilla-bean gelato ? On the other hand, who cares? These and a good many of Sfuzzi’s other dishes are terrific.

Perhaps you’d like to start things off with the restaurant’s trademark aperitif, the frozen Sfuzzi Un-Bellini-Able, a spin-off of the Bellini. The Bellini, as one knows, is a chic combination of champagne and peach juice, uncommonly refreshing on a sweltering day. Sfuzzi’s version, poured from a machine, is slushy and sweet and perfect for grown-up kids. Drink it too fast and you’ll get an ice-cream headache.

Save your appetite for the fine pizzas, pastas and main dishes--the starters are not a strong suit as yet. The baked eggplant with smoked mozzarella basil and tomatoes needs more flavor, as does the Tuscan white bean soup with rosemary, a fairly bland interpretation of a classic.

The salads, served in attractive big ceramic bowls, include a Caesar with good, crackling focaccia bread croutons and too much cheese. There’s a low-fat bittersweet arugula radicchio salad with beefsteak tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette. My favorite, Sfuzzi salad, is a simple mix of field greens, red onion, carrot curls and chunks of fresh tomato.

But it’s all uphill from there on a menu filled with dishes that you simply want to eat. The pizzas, all served on porous earthenware platters that keep the thin pizza crusts appealingly crisp, include a knockout pizza quattro formaggi with four cheeses. If you don’t mind a bit of sweetness, try the smoked chicken pizza, in which the smokiness of the meat is gracefully offset by caramelized onion and mildly pungent goat cheese.

Pastas can be simple, such as angel hair with tomato and basil, or substantial, as in the heady rigatoni with sweet sausage, peppers, mozzarella and oregano. Raviolis--filled with smoked chicken, wild mushrooms, ricotta and rosemary--are saucy and al dente. A traditional linguine with clams is enriched with rock shrimp, little rings of calamari and a small heap of minced garlic.

Even better are some of the main dishes, called specialties on Sfuzzi’s menu. Veal scaloppine with wild mushrooms, Marsala and caramelized shallots is a fabulously rich feast, with giant pieces of soft veal literally coated with a flavorsome sauce mingling with the mushrooms and deeply burnished shallots. Romano-crusted chicken breast is served with a light Roma tomato basil sauce, pinkish linguine done to a skillful turn and good grilled vegetables.

Grilled salmon with green beans is exactly the type of entree you’d expect to find at Spago or any other hip California grill. It’s seared outside, slightly underdone and juicy inside, with a highly acidic sauce and crisp potatoes. Lighter eaters can try grilled free-range chicken with rosemary roasted potatoes and fall vegetables (onions, carrots, etc.). The sauce is low in fat but deceptively rich-tasting.

There is nothing at all deceptive about the desserts, though. They are rich and proud of it. Best of the litter is probably the mile-high cappuccino ice cream pie--essentially coffee ice cream in an Oreo cookie crust served on a grid of chocolate and caramel sauces. A tasty creme brulee advertises a flaky ricotta crust. I find the crust soggy but the filling fairly irresistible.

And let us not forget Sfuzzi’s quirky but delicious tirami su , in which round layers of chocolate sponge cake are spread with a firm mascarpone pastry cream. It’s the kind of dessert that keeps customers coming back for more, even when they have to wait for their tables.

Sfuzzi is moderate to moderately expensive. Pizzas are $7.75 to $9.95. Pastas are $8.50 to $11.95. Specialties are $12.95 to $15.95. Desserts are $4 to $4.50.

Max Jacobson is a free-lance writer who reviews restaurants weekly for The Times Orange County Edition. * Sfuzzi

Triangle Square mall, 1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa.

(714) 548-9500.

Dinner Sunday through Wednesday, 5 to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday till midnight. (Lunch and Sunday brunch scheduled to begin in late February.)

All major cards accepted.