Restaurant Review : There’s More to Rosti Than <i> Pollo</i>

The first person I bring to Rosti takes one look at the toasty brown grilled chicken and roasted potatoes in the deli case and announces, “I want that.”

The next person I bring to Rosti--same thing. “I’ll have the chicken,” he says, then goes sullen when I suggest we try other food. A third person I nudge directly to a table without so much as a glimpse into the deli case--to no avail. My friend points to the next table: chicken. “I’ll get that,” she says.

The pollo al mattone con patate , a grilled pounded half chicken scented with rosemary is as good as it looks: The meat is juicy, the skin sticky-crisp; the slow-roasted potatoes may be oily, but they’re wonderful, even the next day, eaten cold. This is not a meal you want to eat every night of the week on your low-fat diet, but once or twice a week might promote happiness.

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In the end, the only way I can get any of my dining companions even to look at a menu is to order a plate of the pollo for the table. As bribes go, it’s not expensive: $6.95; add spinach, a dollar more.

Rosti Rosticceria Toscana has sold Tuscan takeout cooking for more than three years now. While there have always been a few tables, recent renovation has enlarged the dining area and added a bakery, which serves coffee and pastries starting at 7 a.m. daily.

With sparkling white tiles, inset lighting and shelves of Italian cookies, coffee, pasta and oil, Rosti has the look of a gourmet shop-cum-scullery--Williams Sonoma with a kitchen. Hanks of chili and garlic and huge Parma hams hang on the south wall. The new floor is handsome wheat-colored stone, the tables wood, the wooden chairs green with woven straw seats. A sidewalk patio is shaded with cheerful red umbrellas and heated at night.

The crowd is local, neighborly, a mix of pizza-fed young men, couples of all ages, families with children. People seem to know one another; those waiting for takeout orders schmooze with friends. Waiters and waitresses are young and well-meaning, but not particularly skilled; they routinely forget bread and beverages, and refills of anything are beyond their scope.

In the early morning, the juice is fresh, the lattes strong, if small and too foamy. The decision among brioche, croissants and Danish is unimportant; they’re all good, not great. I’d be perfectly happy there reading the paper if the radio weren’t so loud and buzzy.

Lunch and takeout starts at 11 a.m. and continues until 10 p.m. A well-devised menu is augmented by a dozen daily specials.

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The antipasti selection is small and fresh. I tried satisfactorily roasted red peppers with capers, a dense eggplant caponata , and found the flaked tuna in cannellini beans quite agreeable--but then, I love cannellini beans. Maybe that’s why I also cottoned to zuppa alla Toscana , a pleasantly bland vegetable soup thickened with cannellini.

With its medium-thick chewy-enough crust, the pizza Margherita (topped with plain cheese, tomato sauce and a few fresh basil leaves), is serviceable. Pepperoni pizza, the Margherita minus basil plus spicy pepperoni, is feistier--and greasier.

Rigatoni gratinati is a heavenly high-end macaroni-and-cheese--big tube pasta, cream and chewy chunks of prosciutto baked until the top is browned and bubbly.

Ravioli are notably plump here, and thin-skinned; the spinach-and-ricotta filling is so fresh, the spinach is still a startling green when I cut the ravioli open, and I loved their subtle sauce (on special one night) of cream and enticing bitter radicchio.

The seafood risotto--chock-full of rock shrimp, fresh clams and calamari --would rule if it had just a tad less butter and salt.

Dessert involves a short hike to the counter and another tricky decision: a good, dense creme brulee with berries or a decent berry tart or a perfect tiramisu with fluffy, barely sweetened cheese the perfect counterpoint to the espresso-swollen ladyfingers. If you’re having post-fat intake remorse after the pollo or baked rigatoni, there are fresh berries and melon.

* Rosti Rosticceria Toscana, 908 S. Barrington Ave., Brentwood, (310) 447-8695. Breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days. No alcohol. Parking available. Major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $22-$42.