Restaurant Review : The Taste of Changes in the Kitchen

I have been eating out in this town long enough now to see restaurants change hands multiple times. El Mocambo became the Sky Grill, which, in turn, became Zucchero. Flags became the Chaya Diner, which became El Chaya and is now Book Soup Bistro. Opera became La Regatta, then something else, then Kenny’s Steak House--I can’t keep all the genealogies straight.

The experience of visiting a new restaurant at an old familiar address always has an odd, dream-like disjunctive quality, full of deja vu and strangeness. Sometimes I’ve been filled with nostalgia, sometimes gladdened by innovative change. But never have I felt weirder or sadder or more like I’d wandered into a troubled dream than when I walked into Italy’s Little Kitchen at what was the former site of Trattoria Angeli.

The space, as originally designed by architect Michele Saee, was airy, beckoning, visually sophisticated and amusing. Industrially flavored steel flourishes (a catwalk, light fixtures that looked like graceful robotic arms) were balanced by warm gold-wood walls, red tablecloths and chef-owner Evan Kleiman’s gratifying big-souled cucina rustica.

The recession, a shift in dining patterns and consistently high overhead were probably all factors in closing the remarkable steel and glass door to Trattoria Angeli.

And yet, shortly the door opened again, to another Italian restaurant. This time, rusty steel letters on the front of the building spell out Italy’s Little Kitchen. And on the inside . . .

As if sternly correcting a fanciful and good-hearted impulse, the new inhabitants have sloppily sloshed dark brown stain all over the interior’s formerly pale wood. Beams, walls, balcony are now dark as the aged veneer of an old pizza joint. The architectonics remain, chastened, vestigial. Tablecloths and walls are bright white; the starkness is resounding.

If the first shock comes from the look of the place, the next comes when we receive a small round pillow of warm bread. At first glance, it’s not unlike Angeli’s dreamy rounds, and we tear into it. But these are doughy, heavy, yeasty discs soaked with oil.

Comparison between the two establishments is invited: They’re both Italian, and the prices are pretty close. The truth is, there’s no contest when it comes to the food. Evan Kleiman’s straightforward, deceptively simple Italian food was intelligent, deeply satisfying, nervy and memorable. Her ingredients were impeccable. Who can forget her strawberry risotto? Or the perfection of spaghetti with sweet butter and parmigiano ?

*

Italy’s Little Kitchen has a different approach to food. “I used to eat at this little pizza joint with the same name on Manchester,” recalls a friend as we walk in the door. “Back in the days when I was a starving college student.” She is, of course, referring to the original, still-extant Italy’s Little Kitchen in Westchester. The two establishments share about the same menu, although at the new West Los Angeles locale, the wine list is more extensive, the food more expensive. The pricier Little Kitchen also offers nightly seafood specials.

The food at the new Little Kitchen ranges from acceptable to execrable. The grilled vegetables, well-charred and ample in portion, are just fine. Arugula salad with radicchio, tomatoes, goat cheese, raisins and walnuts is a little busy but definitely edible. A salad with white canned tuna, white beans, romaine lettuce is inoffensive. But one can only speculate what the kitchen did to the thinly battered fried calamari to give it that tough translucence and fishy taste.

The best thing we eat is the sauteed rapini (Italian broccoli) with sun-dried tomatoes.

Pizza “Bianca” is a sea of grease on a heavy, doughy crust. Pastas again can be perfectly fine (scampi and linguine), muddled (penne in a spicy red sauce with radicchio, pancetta, onions, goat cheese) or sub-average (bland, gummy spinach ravioli). Dinners do come with soup and salad, although both the watery minestrone and ordinary Caesar are utterly unmemorable. A salmon filet actually looks quite appealing--too bad our waiter never told us the night’s specials or we might have sampled it.

* Italy’s Little Kitchen, 11651 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 996-1172. Open seven days for lunch and dinner. Beer and wine only. Valet parking. Major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $28-$52.