Star Bright

Le Stelle means “the stars” in Italian. Given its Beverly Hills locale, this 3-month-old restaurant is probably named more for the stars of television and film than those in the heavens. At any rate, owner Samuele Cardamone greets anybody who walks in the door with great enthusiasm. Spreading his arms wide, he kisses and hugs the ones he knows and claps the shoulders of those he doesn’t.

He perfected his over-the-top Italian shtick as a waiter at one of L.A.’s longest-running Italian restaurants, Chianti on Melrose Avenue. As owner here, he’ll sometimes bring chef Marco Amarone to tables to show him off. “Go ahead! Whatever you want,” Cardamone says. “I’ll ask the chef to make it--he may throw a pot at me, but I will ask.” The first time around, this routine is embarrassing. The second time, it’s painful.

If Cardamone would relax and let the food speak for itself, Le Stelle might have the chance to shine. Amarone, who is from Naples and has worked at the well-known Don Alfonso near Sorrento, is turning out better-than-average Italian food with a welcome Southern Italian accent. This isn’t heavy-on-the-red-sauce Neapolitan-American fare, though. Amarone’s cooking displays some light contemporary touches.

Plates heaped with linguine and fire-engine red lobster shells sail by. Rosy slices of prosciutto di Parma are twirled around grissini arranged tepee-like in a bed of emerald arugula. Pere e Gorgonzola is a lovely composition--a fan of finely sliced pears with pale endive and nuggets of Gorgonzola dolce and pistachios in a light citrus vinaigrette.

Because this is America, where we like everything on a grand scale, consider sharing the appetizers. Swordfish carpaccio, a special one night, is a dinner-sized plate covered with thin slices of lightly smoked swordfish under a blizzard of arugula, shaved fennel and long curls of celery. Dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, it’s strewn with whole pistachios and, oddly, a cardamom pod or two. Fried calamari is another winning appetizer. (It’s on the menu as calamari and shrimp, but you can specify just calamari.) The squid is crunchy, and the marinara dipping sauce has a sharp kick of pepperoncini. The portion is so large, though, even four of us have trouble finishing it, because we’ve ordered other appetizers, too.

For daintier appetites, there’s an appealing antipasto of shrimp with agrumi (citrus), orange segments in this case, tossed with Belgian endive and celery. Another time, the chef’s special is thin potato and shrimp slices with an herb-laced white cheese. It’s a winning combination.

Pastas are generally pretty good, too. The best is pappardelle with leeks and spinach. The buttery inch-wide noodles are sauced with tender braised leek and swatches of fresh spinach. Trofie (a Ligurian pasta) comes with green beans and potatoes in a fragrant pesto sauce, which is the way they do it most often in Liguria, though this version is heavier than most. There’s also fresh tagliolini with seared cherry tomatoes and finely shredded crab meat, the kind of pasta you could eat in a trattoria somewhere overlooking the bay of Naples.

That gorgeous-looking dish of noodles with half a lobster is, sorry to say, a real disappointment. The lobster is overcooked and tired, with little of the vibrant flavor that fresh seafood should have. Less successful, too, is spaghetti al cartoccio with lemon sauce and Black Forest ham. Risotto with asparagus tips and Vermentino, which sounds like a good recipe, is so rich you can barely taste the rice.

Main courses in Italian restaurants are rarely a strong suit. This menu lists the usual scaloppine, veal chop, chicken breast and grilled prawns. Here the scaloppine is well above average. The veal is tender and still somewhat moist in a nicely modulated Marsala sauce with wild mushrooms. Milanese, the typical breaded veal cutlet pounded out from the bone until it covers the entire plate, is a little thicker than most. The skilled frying evident in the calamari here means the cutlet is crunchy and golden and not a bit greasy. With a wedge of lemon squeezed over, it’s pleasant enough, though the veal could have more flavor. Also worth watching for is an occasional special of beef filet wrapped in prosciutto, which adds an element of salt and crispness to the tender filet.

Grilled salmon is fairly standard but comes with hanks of fresh spinach. Grilled Hawaiian prawns are decent, too, but my striped bass is overcooked. The best fish dish I tried was another special, fresh Dover sole, cooked whole with a fish-shaped bread crust. Our waiter deftly removes the crust and sets it aside to form a platter for the fish as he filets it with two spoons. Squeeze a little lemon, and it’s a wrap. I just wish he’d pointed out that this could easily serve two.

Service at Le Stelle is affable, but not always crisp or effectual. When we ask to share a pasta, the waiters forget to bring serving implements or small plates to make sharing easier. Sometimes a zealous waiter removes wineglasses before we’ve finished. The food can be awfully slow coming from the kitchen, too.

The noise level can be high, even when the place is just half full, because the room is narrow and has many hard surfaces--notably the wood walls. Speaking of hard surfaces, the stylish metal chairs hold a decided chill.

Only two desserts are made in house. The best is tiramisu. In its shallow gratin dish, tiramisu doesn’t look promising, but it’s excellent. You can taste the mascarpone, and it’s blessedly not too sweet. A frozen cassata is imported directly from Sicily. It’s made with ladyfingers, candied fruit, bits of chocolate--and ice cream. With a little more experience and a more polished front of the house, Le Stelle should settle in as another worthy Italian in the firmament of L.A. restaurants.

Le Stelle

150 S. Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills

(310) 271-0030

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: * 1/2

AMBIENCE: Chic Italian contemporary with cherry-stained Douglas fir walls and alcoves displaying magnums of Italian wine. SERVICE: Expansive and cordial, but kitchen is sometimes slow. BEST DISHES: Swordfish carpaccio, fried calamari, pere e Gorgonzola, pappardelle with leeks and spinach, trofie with pesto, veal scaloppine, veal cutlet Milanese, tiramisu. Appetizers, $6 to $11. Main courses, $12 to $22. Corkage, $15. WINE PICKS: 1998 Marco Felluga Pinot Grigio, Friuli; 1997 Castello di Rampolla Chianti Classico, Tuscany. FACTS: Dinner daily. Lunch weekdays. Valet parking at night.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.