RESTAURANT REVIEW : Good Food, Nice Time at Modo Mio

Three of us are celebrating a birthday at Modo Mio, a stylish neighborhood Italian restaurant in Pacific Palisades. It’s a cold Friday night, the winds are blowing, the sky outside seems particularly black, but within Modo Mio’s rubbed, Tuscan-pink walls, it’s bustling and cozy. Fat red candles light each table. A wall mural depicts musicians serenading a woman. An enormous, beautiful pine breakfront displays a wealth of wine and olive oil. We have just finished our appetizers--baked lobster, carpaccio, grilled Portobello mushrooms--and our waiter, a gracious Italian fellow, is clearing our plates. “I will take these away and bring you clean plates and clean underwear,” he says.

“Oh,” my friend Holly says calmly. “We won’t need that for a few more courses.”

The waiter walks off. We look wide-eyed at each other and start to giggle. The waiter reappears. His face is bright red. “Did I just say what I think I did?” he asks. He apologizes profusely, abjectly, tries to explain he meant silverware and finally gives up and giggles with us.

I would remember--and love--Modo Mio for that moment alone, but the food is also terrific and the rest of the staff is also charming and warm. Many customers are clearly regulars; they greet the hosts, have reserved preferred tables, wave to neighbors and generally act as if they’re home away from home.

In this age, where Tuscan-inflected food has become the food we see most often in restaurants, Modo Mio’s “cucina rustica” regular menu offers few surprises except, perhaps, for consistent quality. The menu, however, is augmented by up to 15 specials a night.

Chewy rings of calamari in a hearty, caper-spiked tomato brodo is just the right starter on a chilly evening. A plate of assorted grilled vegetables, sliced paper-thin, scented with woodsmoke, has been quickly and deftly grilled, except for the potato, which is still crunchy-raw.

The grilled Portobello, cut in chunks, is meaty as, well, meat. A diminutive baked lobster tail has an alluring sweetness but it’s overcooked. My favorite appetizer, however, is a simple artichoke salad that’s essentially a slaw made from the raw baby thistles, flakes of Parmigiano, good olive oil and lemon juice.

Another recommended stick-to-your-ribs cold weather dish is a special of papardelle sauced with a dense braise of venison that has a remarkable depth of flavor. Spinach and ricotta-filled ravioli, perfectly al dente and dressed in a pink sauce are good, if unremarkable by comparison. Risotto with porcini mushrooms has a bit more wine than necessary, but the fragrant mushrooms are gloriously slippery and plentiful.

Entrees are worth ordering for the roasted potatoes alone: Golden, crisped, sprinkled with rosemary, they’re earthy and exemplary. The chef, I’ve noticed, tends to cook meat and fish a tad on the well side, so it may be best to order a bit rarer than you normally would. A veal chop is more medium than I normally like, although it is delicious. A special Porterhouse, also far more cooked than the requested charred rare, is enormous, a map of meat encompassing most of a dinner plate--a few inner precincts are pleasingly pink.

A large portion of ahi tuna, ordered very rare, is also overdone but tasty. Somehow, a beautiful plate of salmon “scaloppine,” four generous filets in butter, lemon and capers, escapes this fate: It is cooked more gently, the flesh desirably moist, translucent.

The dessert tray offers an alarmingly uniform row of cakes and tarts, all seemingly cut from various long rectangular loaves.

We try a tart lemon and a creamy coconut, which are just fine. Still, I wish desserts here were more compelling: This is one place I don’t mind lingering.

* Modo Mio, 15200 Sunset Blvd. (enter on La Cruz), Pacific Palisades, (310) 459-0979. Open 7 days for dinner only. Beer and wine served. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $36-$98.