RESTAURANT REVIEW : Fabiolus: A Fantasy in Concept

Lunch time at the Fabiolus Cafe on Sunset: The patio, with its low lath ceiling and potted plants, is almost irresistible, but the one empty table is shaded. December is not a month to eat in the shade, even in Southern California. No problem, however. Two laughing waiters carry the table into a spot of dappled sun. “Anything else?” they ask. “An ocean view?”

It does seem as if the Mediterranean could be lapping nearby.

The second Fabiolus Cafe, like the first on Melrose, is a fantasy in concept: a pretty neighborhood joint where the food’s simple and good, the prices are low, the service good-humored, the art bearable, and the overall experience like a quick trip to Italy. Too good to be true? Well, yes, much of the time. But let’s not lose hope.

Those familiar with the original Fabiolus will feel occasionally at home here, and occasionally a bit irritated. The newer establishment isn’t quite as smoothly run as the original; the food isn’t as consistent, the service is more laid back, the whimsical spirit sleepier.

Contrary to the jarring, antiqued-tangerine exterior, the inside of this little cafe is tasteful, spare and airy, with pale butter yellow walls. Wooden tables and cunning wooden chairs wobble on an uneven concrete floor that is made to look like stones embedded with LP records. Many more expensive restaurants aren’t nearly so attractive.

Fabiolus Cafe is liveliest at lunch when workers wander in from nearby studios and offices. Dinner can be quieter, the evening business no doubt tempered by the cafe’s lack of a beer and wine license. Still, a neighborhood contingency of couples, friends and solo diners shows up to hunker down over big bowls of pasta, the dinner special.

By the kitchen are shelves of antipasti: plates of roasted leeks, grilled eggplant, baby corn and potato salad, sauteed rapini, etc. Best go and point out what you want. When we were there, our waiter misunderstood our order and brought us spinach instead of escarole.

It’s a pleasure to relax with a plate of Fabiolus antipasti and a basket of rustic Italian bread while deciding what to order for dinner.

Panini (Italian sandwiches) are made on slabs of that good thick, crusty rustic bread. Inarguable breadiness is countered by fillings of intensified flavor: Roasted peppers are amplified with Gorgonzola cheese and black olives; turkey and Cheddar cheese get a boost from spicy cherry peppers.

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There are unusual salads here: smoked salmon and mozzarella with lemon dressing; spinach with pecans and cottage cheese. A personal favorite has crisp mixed lettuces, feta cheese, black olives and strips of fresh carrots. Homemade minestrone is indistinguishable from a rather salty vegetable soup: no beans, no pasta.

Rigatoni with oyster mushrooms, capers and garlic is disappointing in a way that happens to be one of my pet peeves: Instead of oyster mushrooms, the bowl comes with boring--and less expensive--domestic mushrooms. I couldn’t help but feel tricked; to cut corners by using cheaper mushrooms is too obvious and rude a ploy.

Fabiolus Cafe is not the only offender: Some of the best restaurants are stretching their wild funghi with the supermarket variety without, obviously, adjusting the price. Please. Had I been told that the kitchen was out of oyster mushrooms, I would have ordered something else.

Also disappointing is the special linguine with clams; the shellfish is fresh and sweet, but the pasta is overcooked, gummy spaghetti. The kitchen, I was told, has a new pasta machine and is just learning to make and cook freshly made pasta. They’d do better to practice in private.

Lamb chops prove to be blade cut, fatty, but absolutely delicious with spicy pickled peppers. A thin, tasty swordfish steak is overwhelmed by capers, rosemary and onions--better to ask for a topping of lemon and capers only.

Tiramisu is good here--it’s also the only available dessert.

This Fabiolus feels sleepy, half-born; the kitchen needs to buckle down, perfect the pasta, live up to the modest promises of the menu.

Still, with food this decent and this inexpensive, it’s hard to complain.

* Fabiolus Cafe 6270 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 467-2882. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. No alcohol served. Visa and Mastercard accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $16-$46.