RESTAURANT REVIEW : Share and Feast Alike at Balducci’s

It’s a rainy night in Beverly Hills; we’re cold, wet and starving. We eye Balducci’s Trattoria, the new tenant in the former Carnegie Deli space. Balducci’s, in fact, is a small chain: There’s one in San Diego and one in Sherman Oaks. The bright red letters are loud, the kind of signage seen off an interstate or in a shopping mall, but not usually here, one block east of Rodeo Drive. Stepping inside, however, we’re reassured by the bright good looks of the place, not to mention enormous, steaming plates of food sailing out to the tables.

Balducci’s looks like a huge eating hall in New York’s Little Italy or Boston’s North End--or, rather, it looks like the idealized, snappy theme park version of such places: tasteful recessed ceilings, dark wood, propeller fans and light fixtures the size of small bathtubs. A wall of boxed pasta and crated wax vegetables lends a color-coded grocery motif. By the bar, racks bristle with hundreds of crusty brown bread loaves.

Friends and families serve themselves from 14-inch pizzas, bowls of salad, mountainous platters of chicken set in the middle of the table. It’s truly family-style dining, a concept so many people profess to like, but so few restaurants do well.

The waitress explains the drill as soon as we are seated: Portions of most items are large enough for at least two or three, if not four. Unless you want to eat an unwieldy amount of one thing all by yourself, share. (And bring along friends with compatible tastes.) It’s all two people can do to polish off one bowl of salad and one of pasta. Add an appetizer and something will go home with you.

The waitress also offers a large medicinal-looking bottle of the house Chianti: Swill it at will--$2.50 a glass on the honor system.

Fried calamari here may well be the best in town: Certainly it’s the largest portion. Lightly breaded, fried a pale golden brown, crunchy on the outside, springy within, softened slightly with lemon juice, just salty enough, this squid is impossible to stop eating.

The antipasto platter, equally ample, has a bit of everything, all of it good: cold cuts (salami, capocolla, mortadella), roasted peppers and anchovies, a couple wedges of grilled polenta, grilled eggplant and zucchini, steamed mussels and fresh mozzarella darkened with balsamic vinegar.

Salads are served in large bowls--larger than my mother used for a family of four. The caprese is actually a green salad with walnut-sized balls of fresh mozzarella, tomato chunks and slices of roasted red peppers. The bread salad, another bowl of greens, is sprinkled with kalamata olives, cucumbers and toasted cubes of bread that soak up just the right amount of dressing. (The balsamic vinaigrette is applied with a liberal hand.) All salads can be chopped for $1.25 extra.

Again, the bowls of pasta would have looked monumental to my family. But here, couples routinely take them on. Penne pomodoro, recommended by the waitress, is simple and delicious: lots of fresh and chopped tomatoes, basil, olive oil and a sneaky little bit of heat from fresh garlic. A platter of three-color radiatori looks like a dark still life of tiny squiggly radiators. With roasted vegetables and goat cheese, it’s a rich, tasty dish.

As slick and corporate as Balducci’s seems, the food here has an appealing, down-home quality. It’s not sophisticated cooking, but good, basic, stick-to-your-ribs dishes made from decent ingredients that, for a restaurant this size, is a feat. A whole cut-up rotisserie chicken is definitely a happy sight on a cold winter’s night. We liked the chicken Marsala, the meat moist, the skin sticky-sweet, the zillion button mushrooms. Too bad the potato wedges aren’t fully cooked. Rack of lamb is six good chops fanned out over a dense heap of roasted potatoes, mushrooms and carrots.

One order, six slabs of bread pudding, studded with chocolate morsels, recline in a pool of creme anglaise. Cream house-made strawberry gelato comes three huge scoops to the bowl. The chocolate chip cheesecake allegedly serves one--one linebacker, perhaps.

Balducci’s is not Spago, or even Prego, but there is something to be said for sharing good hearty food with friends: It’s fun.

* Balducci’s Trattoria, 300 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 858-0445. Open seven days for lunch and dinner. Full bar. Major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $18-$65.