That Specials Touch

If you can’t judge a book by its cover, can you judge a restaurant by its menu?

Not if it’s like Di Gennaro Ristorante in Woodland Hills, an upscale place whose short menu doesn’t say much about what’s in store for you when you eat there.

Instead, what draws people to this restaurant is its list of specials, according to chef Santino De Felice, who runs Di Gennaro with his partner, Cheryl Keller.

And where does De Felice get ideas for the specials?

“The customers tell me what they want and I make it for them,” he says with a laugh.

“Maybe it’s something they had somewhere else, or maybe something their mother made--dishes like rack of lamb, osso buco, my veal chop with spinach and prosciutto, or my veal martoni with a sherry sauce and mushrooms and hearts of artichoke.

“And if you’re vegetarian, you can have my eggplant with spinach and cheese with a tomato sauce.”

Santino founded Di Gennaro in 1984, sold it to his brother four years later, and bought it back with Cheryl Keller two years ago.

“Once you’re in this business, you never get out,” De Felice says. “My brother wanted to sell, so I said to myself: Why not? I bought it back.”

Like many restaurateurs with a regular following, De Felice uses his menu as a kind of Plan B--available to those who don’t know that the attraction is his list of specials. The basic menu includes such standards as veal parmigiana, veal Florentina, calamari marinara, cioppino and chicken piccata. Prices run from $15.95 to $20.50.

Regular customers don’t look at the menu; they order one of the specials, Keller says. Prices here go to $24.95.

“We get lots of repeat customers,” she says. “Santino has a following in the Valley--so we have lots of specials.”

De Felice and Keller repainted the restaurant earlier this year, turning the ceiling a dark green and the walls a pale green, and adding a green carpet. They serve lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday.

De Gennaro Ristorante is at 20969 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 347-3413.

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Question: What special treat does this month hold for the many families in the San Fernando Valley with mixed loyalties to Judaism and Christianity?

Answer: An excuse to celebrate both holidays with a good meal on the town.

Hanukkah comes very late this year; it begins at sundown Dec. 23, only two days before Christmas--so why not stretch things a bit and celebrate both holidays by going out to eat Dec. 24?

The Bistro Garden at Coldwater offers a $48 prix fixe dinner that night with an inventive menu--medallions of venison with chanterelle mushrooms and a truffle sauce; oven-baked pheasant with a honey orange sauce; salmon with leeks and a sauce of sun-dried tomatoes; or a chicken breast supreme with a Dijon sauce and garlic mashed potatoes.

For dessert: bread pudding, berries with Florentine cookies, or a Grand Marnier or chocolate souffle.

The Bistro Garden at Coldwater is at 12950 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 501-2244. Reservations are a must.

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Lenetta Kidd, who runs the Moonlight supper club in Sherman Oaks, offers a $19.95 prix fixe dinner Christmas Eve featuring roast Canada goose or prime rib, plus baby winter beets, honey-glazed carrots, roasted baby onions, fresh cranberry relish and potato pancakes.

On other nights through December, Kidd offers a special three-course menu for groups or parties, at $26.95 per person.

The first course: calamari with a jalapeno remoulade sauce, marinated artichokes with a vinaigrette, or mixed greens with cucumbers, black olives and a “green goddess” sauce--a salad dressing popular in the 1950s consisting of mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, parsley, Dijon, goat cheese, champagne, tarragon, basil and chives.

The main course: a filet mignon with mushrooms and rosemary, chicken with a cilantro “shimmy” sauce, or salmon with a cucumber hollandaise.

Moonlight is at 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 788-2000. Reservations are a must.

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Errors and omissions: Lawrence Casperson’s Bistro 818 in Sherman Oaks does not offer late-night entertainment, as reported in this space two weeks ago.

Casperson changed the restaurant’s name from Kings Road 818 to Bistro 818 some weeks ago--and rewrote his menu to attract a family crowd.

But he does not offer nightclub entertainment. The restaurant that occupied the location before Casperson took over did, and the addlepated writer of this column seized the opportunity to misunderstand.

Which is to say: Oops.

Bistro 818 serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday, brunch Saturday and Sunday. It is at 14502 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 789-9044.

* Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. He may be reached at (805) 492-7909 or fax (805) 492-5139 or via e-mail at JHovey@compuserve.com