Into a Festa Italia Some Rain Must Fall

Last week Italian chefs all over town were in a frenzy preparing food for Festa Italia, which usually draws some 75,000 hungry revelers to Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade. And then the rains came.

“It was pouring all Saturday morning,” says festival organizer Antonio Capretta. “At 11, all the weather bureaus were still forecasting continuous thunderstorms through Sunday. A half hour later, the Health Department came in and pulled our permit for Saturday.”

“What happened was a complete freak of nature,” says Capretta. “It was the largest amount of rainfall on that day since 1859.”

So what happened to all that food? Mario Martinoli, chef/owner of Mario’s Cooking for Friends, had prepared hundreds of pounds of ribs and eggplant involtini . But he had no problems. “We cater ‘Arsenio Hall,’ ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Wings,’ ” he says. “We just buried them in food.”

“All I lost on was creme brulee, “ says Celestino Drago, chef/owner of the Santa Monica restaurant Drago, who estimates the downpour cost him about $500. “It was the only thing I had to make ahead of time.” Drago donated most of the desserts to charity; the rest went to his staff.

“What I think we would have lost,” says I Cugini’s Steve Grant, “we made up in business at the restaurant. A lot of people didn’t know the festival had been canceled and came down on Saturday night and Sunday.” I Cugini, located within walking distance of the festival, planned to serve grilled ono with polenta and salsa verde, fried calamari and fresh shrimp. “We aggressively turned those items into specials in the restaurant,” Grant says. “But if our restaurant had been located inland we would have been in bad trouble.”

While chef Nicholas Detz says the cancellation hardly cost West Hollywood’s Pane Caldo much in actual dollars, “a lot of time and effort and goodwill was wasted.” The chicken that he planned to serve, however, was not. It went straight into the freezer.

Andrea Bullo, on the other hand, says it was quite costly for Prego. The Beverly Hills restaurant, which has participated in Festa Italia for the past three years, had prepared chicken diavolo and prawns in olive oil for 2,000. “We can’t freeze these items,” Bullo says. “But what happened is not going to change my mind about the event.”

Martinoli agrees. Even in California, you just can’t count on good weather. “You want to know how crazy it got?” asks Martinoli. “Antonio Capretta looked at the weather reports for the last 25 years. His sister, Julie, even consulted a psychic. These people don’t take things lightly.”

Festa Italia, which features top chefs from more than 35 Italian restaurants and is partly sponsored by The Times for charity, will now be held on July 10 and 11. Says Capretta, “We decided to utilize the rescheduling clause in our contract.”

GUEST CHEFING: Since Thomas Keller left downtown and Checkers restaurant a year ago, the super-chef has been occupying his time creating gourmet olive oil, writing a cookbook, and searching for someone with enough money to buy him a restaurant. The olive oil is being bottled, the book is done, and Keller is still looking for an angel. In the meantime, he’s getting back into the kitchen. On June 29 and 30, he will cook a four-course prix-fixe ($55) at Tryst, where Ralf Marhencke is chef. “Ralf is a good friend and a good chef,” says Keller. “He worked for me at Rakel in New York. So when he asked me to do this, I figured why not?”

COLLISION COURSES: “I’m not like Cannon Films,” says Remi’s Jivan Tabibian. “I don’t advertise eight movies and only make one.” And so his long-planned Ciao, Chow Express, a moderately priced Italian Chinese place, will open in Long Beach in August. His Remi partner, Adam Tihany, is not involved in the new project.

“It’s not fast food,” Tabibian says, “and it’s not L’Orangerie. It’s going to be reverse Marco Polo. Where East collides with West.”

LOBSTER MAINE-IA: Joe Miller has once again put lobster on the menu at his Venice restaurant, Joe’s. Through July, a one-pound lobster served on black tagliatelle will run $18, and lobster ravioli with asparagus salad and a lobster juice vinaigrette is $10. “There’s no middleman here,” says Miller. “My aunt in Portland sends me the lobsters.”

TERMINATOR III: After weeks of searching and interviews, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new chef for Schatzi on Main in Santa Monica. Mark Wexler, who cooked at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, got the job. He replaces Michael Rosen who replaced Lisa Stalvey.

STOCKPOT: University Restaurant Group (Water Grill, Pine Avenue Fish House, Ocean Avenue Seafood) plans to open another fish-themed restaurant. Clearwater Cafe, a baby version of Water Grill will open in Old Town Pasadena.