RESTAURANT REVIEW : La Trattoria: Home-Away-From-Home Dining : Storefront restaurant that might be called a Family Red Sauce Joint is run by a guy named Worrick. Recipes come from family in Tuscany.

Out on East Main Street in Ventura, there’s an obscure little storefront restaurant past which I’ve driven numerous times but never stopped.

Let me stress that even though there are people waiting outside on weekends and lots of cars in the parking lot, it doesn’t necessarily mean this is a fine place in which to eat. I carry with me lasting gastronomic wounds from restaurants just like this in which I finally ate, only to emerge shaking my head, wondering just what it is, beside prices, that fills these places.

I did not come out of La Trattoria shaking my head in bewilderment. I did emerge knowing what the attraction is at this small spot, which seats about 45.

Jim Worrick, who bought the restaurant about six years ago, runs it with this thought: “It’s like people coming to our home to eat,” he says. “We get lots of families in the evenings, more singles and business people at lunch. You don’t have to dress up here, and even our employees feel like family.”

What La Trattoria might best be called is a Family Red Sauce Joint. The environment is a simple one. There’s a fake grape arbor over one portion of the room, with plastic grapes hanging down, and red-and-white checkered tablecloths, sort of circa 1950 California Italian.

How could a guy named Worrick get off running an Italian restaurant? It seems the family name originally was Verrichio, according to Worrick’s son, Tom, also active in the business, along with grandkids doubling as busboys. The recipes come from family members still in Tuscany.

The same sweet tomato sauce is used on most of the pastas. There’s a spaghetti puttanesca ($7.95), which comes to the table spicy enough, but the olives and capers and garlic are mixed together much too finely, and anchovies dominate the dish.

The savory eggplant Parmesan ($8.25) is the best of the bunch, juicy and succulent. “Dad’s philosophy is lots of herbs,” says Tom Worrick, and perhaps those herbs hit their stride in this dish.

The lasagna ($8.95), which the menu advertises as rated the best in Ventura County by Los Angeles magazine, isn’t bad, either. Same sauce, but chewy lasagna layers and nice spices.

The veal cutlet Milanese ($13.50) came to the table cold, and if there had been any flavor in the breading, it had disappeared, but the veal was tender.

The restaurant’s strength is in its salads, and possibly desserts (the dressings and desserts are made on the premises). The Caesar salad ($6.95) is tangy, with the right combination of anchovy and lemon. The best house salad dressings are the sweet poppy seed and honey, and the honey mustard. Pass on the antipasto ($7.95). The Worricks should be ashamed to serve such dull olives and meats in an Italian restaurant.

For dessert, the chocolate chip cannoli ($2.50) is not a bad bet, but the layered chocolate and vanilla cake of ricotta cheese ($2.50) is a better one, coming damp and pleasantly not too sweet.

Details

* WHAT: La Trattoria.

* WHEN: Open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; for dinner Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 9 p.m., Friday through Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.

* WHERE: 2404 E. Main St., Ventura.

* HOW MUCH: Meal for two, food only, $11-$40.

* FYI: Major credit cards; reservations for four or more accepted; beer and wine.

* CALL: 648-6749.