Pasadena Gets Its Own Sensibly Priced Il Pastaio

Celestino Drago has a runaway success on his hands with his tiny Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills. The moderately priced menu is the appeal, composed entirely of antipasti and first courses--salads, soups, carpaccio variations and a slew of pasta and risotto dishes. Not a main course in sight. No pizza either. Service is fast and snappy. And you can watch as the pasta maker rolls out and cuts colorful sheets of pasta in the front window.

Now the Sicilian-born chef and his younger brother Giacomino have just opened a second Il Pastaio on Lake Avenue in Pasadena. This one looks less like a storefront trattoria, more like a real restaurant with a terrace in front and a large, softly lit, carpeted dining room. And the pasta making has been relegated to a small alcove just off a sunny corridor gaily decorated with multicolored pasta fringe.

Drago’s namesake restaurant in Santa Monica is still a big ticket, but here you can start with an ancient Tuscan soup of farro (a grain that fed legions of Roman soldiers) and borlotti (cranberry beans), dig into a plate of wide-ribbon noodles sauced with a rich duck ragu or penne with swordfish and fennel seed, and finish with a house-made dessert, all for under $20. You couldn’t eat so well for this kind of money in Italy, that’s for sure. Even better, you can stop in for lunch all afternoon: Il Pastaio is open continuously from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.

* Il Pastaio, 141 S. Lake Ave . , Pasadena. (818) 795-4006. Open from 11 a . m . to 11 p . m . Monday through Saturday. Valet parking. Major credit cards accepted. Appetizers $4.50-$9.50; pasta and risotto dishes $8-$12.50.