RESTAURANT REVIEW : A Trio of Italian Picks on Melrose

The liveliest stretch of Melrose Avenue, between La Brea and Fairfax, bears an almost uncanny number of inexpensive Italian cafes that draw on the inexhaustible stream of foot traffic. Passing by dozens if not hundreds of times, I always wondered: Does each have its own ambience and specialties or, as one person joked, are they all fed by a single central kitchen? Recently, I parked to find out.

Tavola Calda, which replaces Rosso e Nero, is the new kid on the block. There are only a few tables outside, but inside, the vast post-modern cavern with blond truss, black duct work and cement floors could swallow the largest, hungriest crowd. During lunch, there’s an attractive antipasto buffet: all you can eat for $8.95--three different zucchini dishes, four eggplant dishes, and a few other salads and vegetables steeped in olive oil. Hot offerings include tasty meatballs and penne marinara.

A dinner visit gives less satisfaction. The best thing we order is the “snow white” pizza, soft white cheeses and rosemary on a yeasty crust. The salads-- tricolore and fried goat cheese on roasted red pepper--are made with fresh ingredients, but suffer from flavorless olive oil. Sauteed porcini on polenta taste as if they’ve been marinated in lighter fluid. A dispirited fettuccine with fresh vegetables tastes as if it has been stewed in dishwater. Both a clumsy apple tart and rubbery chocolate cake are way too sweet.

*

A block and a half to the west, Corleone’s has an antiqued, battered look that’s partly faux, partly the result of hard use. Sit outside, day or night--by the heaters. Inside, there are cold cement floors, open doors and no heaters. Brrrr!

A quick bite at lunch--say, Corleone’s “traditional” pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and a medium-thin crust--evokes pizza-studded college days. Dinner gives less cause for fond sentiment. Our waitress is helpful and terrific: Too bad her charm can’t perk up the food. A Caesar salad with fried calamari seems dressed solely in vegetable oil. A “gourmet” pizza of roast garlic and shrimp is a rubbery deluge of bland cheese and tasteless shrimp on underdone crust--with nary a clove of roast garlic. Such omission may be habitual: “Pasta de la Mamma,” described as “Fresh linguine in our special lemon, black pepper and rosemary white sauce with a grilled chicken breast,” is gummy spaghetti in cream without discernible lemon or rosemary, and a well-peppered chicken breast. Two teeny lamb chops, ordered medium rare, are so well done, they have a black crust.

We’re freezing, the same Sade tape is playing for the fourth time. No dessert, thanks.

*

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Cafe Luna is a busy, well-established scene. We trail in behind a couple in matching fedoras, and a twentysomething kid nudging his dazed parents to a table. Walls are sponged the color of old blood and cluttered with pictures, handbills, shelves of dusty gee gaws. At dinner time, the patio out back is open--and blissfully free from street noise. Set-your-own tables also bear cups of crayons. (The best scribblings paper the bathroom walls.)

Again, we’re reminded of college hangouts: The menu is vast, the kitchen fast. A large, fresh tricolore salad wears a decent vinaigrette--and should, at $8.50. Pizzas, even the simple Margherita, are freighted with cheese, but crust and sauce are just fine. Pastas are iffy: Buckwheat pasta with mushrooms, olives and fresh tomatoes has a very low flavor quotient. The normally raucous puttanesca is here a watery mix of tomato sauce, olives and capers.

Cappuccino would taste better if it weren’t lukewarm. A big slice of apple pie is irresistible, but the poppyseed cake has spent too much time uncovered in the cold case.

* Tavola Calda, 7371 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 658-6340. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. Full bar. Valet parking. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only $22-$60.

* Corleone’s, 7455 Melrose Ave., (213) 653-5764. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. Beer and wine served. Valet parking. Visa, Master Charge and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $23-$42.

* Cafe Luna, 7463 Melrose Ave., (213) 655-8647. Open 7 days for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Beer and wine served. Valet parking. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $19-$60.