It’s Always the Season for Alfresco Dining at Piccola Cucina

Times Orange County restaurant critic Max Jacobson often returns to restaurants he has reviewed to see whether things have changed substantially. This is one in an occasional series of “Second Helpings.”

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Italian food is, by nature, one of the world’s most seasonal cuisines, a fact not lost on our more authentic Italian restaurants.

The wonderful Piccola Cucina in South Coast Plaza goes further with this concept than any other local restaurant. It’s obvious that owner Pino Luongo, who also owns well-known New York dining spots Le Madri and Coco Pazzo, gives his local chef di cucina Christine Hillmer plenty of rope when it comes to this seasonal stuff.

Hillmer has worked extensively with Le Madri’s head chef, Marta Pulini, a great chef from Modena, Italy (famous for balsamic vinegar, among other things), and Hillmer favors purity and simplicity above all else. That’s what makes these dishes, ideal for alfresco dining on the restaurant’s charming outdoor patio, so compelling.

Now, it’s possible to begin a meal here with soups such as minestrone alla Milanese or pappa col pomodoro, appetizers such as insalata Sarda or fiore di zucca, then work your way through pastas like fettuccine con pancetta e radicchio, leave just enough room for a refreshing granita dessert and still feel lightheaded as you stroll back into the real world.

I love this food, precisely the sort of eating Italians do. It all contributes to keeping Italian cuisine on the top rung of the popularity ladder in this country.

Well, why not. The minestrone, served at room temperature, is a delightful melange of summery vegetables and rice swirled with a light pesto, all clean flavors and sunshine. Pappa col pomodoro is a tomato red, soaked bread soup from Tuscany flavored with basil and good olive oil, one of the most intensely comforting dishes I’ve yet tasted.

Hillmer and her staff lightly fry zucchini flowers in a tempura-like batter to make these fiore di zucca. They are filled with mozzarella that has been gently kissed with anchovy, and the cheese sort of drools out when the flowers are cut open.

Insalata Sarda hails from the ancient island of Sardinia, a colorful but simple salad made from red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, pale green cucumbers and sprinklings of pungent feta cheese. You could eat it all day without tiring of it.

Piccola Cucina serves few of its rotisserie meats in the summertime, partly because Italians, and Costa Mesans, don’t eat them so often during the hot months. Try a pasta such as fettuccine, fresh, flat egg noodles, tossed with pancetta (Italian bacon,) radicchio, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese. You’ll fight over it, I promise you.

If you must have something more substantial, look for a dish such as salmone con friggione, a frequent special this time of year. This is grilled salmon on a bed of sauteed peppers, onions and potatoes, with fragrant parsley oil.

And no one should leave here without one of the shaved ice desserts that Italians call granita, high-class Slurpees, if you will, in adult flavors. Granita di espresso is layered with thick panna, whipped cream. Granita di limone is like the world’s greatest lemon slush.

* PICCOLA CUCINA

* 3333 Bristol St., No. 3001, Costa Mesa.

* (714) 556-5844.

* Lunch 11:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. Monday though Saturday; dinner 5 though 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; brunch Sunday 11:30 a.m. through 6 p.m.

* American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.