RESTAURANT REVIEW : Good, Honest Food and a Good, Honest Smoke

I would say that Christy’s Italian Cafe is a breath of fresh air in the Long Beach’s restaurant scene, except that adjacent to--and a part of--the restaurant is the new Havana Cigar Club.

So perhaps it’s more accurate to say that Christy’s is a breath of pungent, rarefied air--although, to tell the truth, I never got so much as a whiff of cigar smoke while visiting the restaurant: Cigars aren’t lit until the smokers are neatly ensconced in the separate smoking room filled with comfortable upholstered furniture.

At any rate, this small, friendly neighborhood cafe is very much the opposite of the many slick, corporate and/or franchise establishments so popular in Long Beach. Christy’s looks charmingly, stylishly homemade, as if a couple of people with sound good taste set out to create a restaurant they would like. The kitchen and dining room, separated by a deli case, fill one large, closely packed storefront. The floor is distressed concrete, the walls a hand-rubbed pinkish hue. Votive candles flicker in small copper cups.

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Unpretentious, this is a true neighborhood place. People of all ages from surrounding Belmont Shores slip in for a salad and a pasta, a glass of wine, a luxurious cigar. Pop songs thump at a reasonable volume, only occasionally upping the din to an overwhelming pitch.

The menu describes the cooking as “Italian food with style.” Fair enough. In this case, the style is like a good leather jacket: sturdy, reliable, pleasurably functional--nothing fancy, nothing way out. My favorite appetizer is the baked eggplant, two oblong slices topped with a thin slice of smoked mozzarella, an enlivening kiss of marinara sauce and a fresh basil leaf. Deep-fried artichokes are small, bland, breaded nuggets: boring.

Mozzarella marinara, however, is a perfect version of the dish with lush melting cheese, crunchy crumb coating, juicy tomato sauce. The antipasto plate, a wheel of flavors, is also recommended: a dense caponata with olives, smoky roasted peppers, some of those great eggplant slices; overcooked penne and farfalle diminish the pasta salads.

Pizzas here have a good, chewy crust; I quite liked the plain “Margarita,” and, of course, the “buona fortuna” with eggplant.

Main dishes and pasta are all served with soup or salad. Lentil soup is light, brothy, delicious and a zucchini puree packs quite a kick of spicy heat. A Caesar salad is fresh and good. The bread salad, or panzanella, would have been so much better if the cubes of bread weren’t deep-fried, and if the cook had used cucumbers instead of substituting raw, spongy zucchini.

The house specialties are good, honest plates of food. A rigatoni with meat sauce is a classic, Old World ragu, with ribs, steak and sausage steeped in the tomato sauce to an intense meaty sweetness.

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Also delicious is a lasagna with meat sauce that’s very rich, and redolent--perhaps too much so--of wine. Chicken piccata, two tender, flattened breasts topped with capers and lemon slices and (to my mind, unnecessary) mushrooms is served with good al dente linguine.

There are usually three nightly specials--if your harried waitress remembers to tell you about them. (The service can be rushed.) I especially like a classic osso buco, braised veal shank, even if the accompanying saffron risotto is overcooked. For dessert, I can recommend a lovely orange-scented cheesecake, its crust made from buttery, ground cookie crumbs. The tiramisu displays a nice balance between espresso-soaked ladyfingers and sweetened mascarpone cheese.

Or, you could slip next door to the Havana Cigar Club. Have a glass of Port or sherry, then slip into the fragrant, climate-controlled cedar-lined humidor where shelves display an impressive array of premium cigars--everything from $1 Don Diego Babies to $20 Paulgar Mirians. There are books to help you with your decision and the proprietors are happy to advise. After you choose your cigar, the bartender will cut it for you. Then it’s back to the smoking room where you can lounge and puff to your heart’s content.

* Christy’s Italian Cafe, 3937 E. Broadway, Long Beach, (310) 433-7133, and the Havana Cigar Club, (310) 433-8053. Open for lunch Monday through Friday. Open for dinner, 7 days. Beer and wine served. Visa and MasterCard accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $22 to $46.