Pasta, pizza and always a party

Though the French have made a valiant comeback with Bastide and a slew of updated bistros, Italian restaurants still rule in Southern California. It seems we can never get enough pasta or risotto or osso buco. When in doubt, we go Italian. That’s why every season seems to bring us more trattorias and ristorantes.

Now Amalfi Ristorante, named for Italy’s ravishing Amalfi Coast, has made its entrance and is sailing along nicely with the familiar L.A. Italian menu fleshed out with a few regional dishes.

Amalfi is the creation of Francesco Grillo, who was a waiter at Farfalla, the long-running La Brea Avenue Italian spot. When it closed not long ago, Grillo enlisted M.D. Sweeney, who owns the Acme Theater next door, as his partner. After a short renovation, the space reopened as Amalfi Ristorante, and it’s looking much more glamorous and chic.

The theater adds something to the block too. Walking from the parking lot to the restaurant one night, we met two actors done up in full Shakespearean costume, imploring us to come see the play. But the foyer was already humming with theatergoers. And the restaurant picked up some of the excitement.

Grillo is the model Italian host. He sweeps guests into the dining room and herds them to the best available table instead of the worst. Once he leaves them in the hands of a personable waiter or waitress, he stops by from time to time throughout the evening to see how things are going.

Mostly, they are going very well.

The room is rustic Tuscan chic with exposed beams and a high ceiling. A fire burns merrily in a massive fireplace covered in cloudy stucco the color of mushrooms. The lighting is soft and romantic and women in slips of dresses slide onto high-backed banquettes. Laughter from the birthday group across the room almost drowns out the live music drifting down from the club upstairs.

Some restaurants never manage to create a sense of fun and festivity. But every time I’ve gone to Amalfi, it felt like a party was in full swing. A lot of it has to do with the ebullient personality of Grillo, who has hired his wait staff well too. Everyone is unflappable and pleasant.

Taste of the Old World

Amalfi’s executive chef is Grillo’s father, Filippo, who cooked for many years at the old-school Marino in Hollywood. While Grillo senior is not exactly breaking new ground, he has slipped in a few dishes from southern Italy. Most Italian restaurants here are indelibly committed to the idea of Tuscan, the first regional cuisine that really took off here in the ‘80s.

Pizza arrives blistered at the edges, the molten cheese smoking hot. One is easily big enough for the table to share as an appetizer. You can never go wrong with the classic Margherita, tomato sauce covered with mozzarella and a few sprigs of basil. Salsiccia is a winning combination of fresh Italian sausage and sauteed rapini along with the usual tomato and cheese, while quattro stagioni is really four “seasons” in one: A pizza covered with prosciutto, artichokes, mushrooms and spinach (tomatoes and cheese too).

Bruschetta comes slathered in crushed cherry tomatoes, olive oil and oregano with more than a touch of garlic. Focaccia di bufoline turns out to be slabs of flatbread layered with enough tomatoes, mozzarella and baby spinach to make it more like a main course sandwich than appetizer. These are definitely American, not Italian, portions.

The list of insalate, or salads, is so lengthy, it needs an entire page of the menu to accommodate all of them. In season (and in L.A. it’s practically year-round), you can get a respectable caprese, the classic summer salad of juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and sweet basil. Amalfi’s salad of sliced fennel, arugula and radicchio dressed in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon makes a fine start to a meal. And the insalata frutti di mare is a plain but lively mix of clams, mussels, and calamari drizzled with olive oil and a little lemon.

The same mix of seafood is tossed with a spicy tomato sauce to make tagliolini all costa Amalfitana. The night I tried it, though, the hot pepper dominated and it was a long way from the exquisite fresh seafood pastas of the Amalfi coast. The same noodles tossed with shrimp and zucchini actually make a tastier dish, one of my favorites on the menu here. Veal ravioli are a little stiff, but the muted flavors of the veal and pasta are lovely with the sauce of butter and fresh sage.

It’s hard to fall for the more elaborate dishes, though, such as fusilli with artichokes, leeks and shiitake mushrooms. The dish is finished off with white truffle oil, and I mean finished. Another night, the special is fettuccine with smoked chicken and about six other ingredients, including that awful white truffle oil. It seems to be a wise idea to steer away from anything with more than three ingredients.

Mixing it up

On Italian menus, secondi or main courses are frequently just plain boring -- bistecca, osso buco, branzino. This chef introduces a little variety into the mix with a Cornish game hen that’s been marinated and roasted with artichokes in the wood-burning oven to give the bird a delicious, smoky edge. The pounded, breaded veal chop is another good choice. Impeccably fried, without a trace of oil, it comes on the bone, with a hank of greens and chopped tomatoes on top.

The chef’s specialty is whole Dover sole, baked in the wood oven and fileted at the table. Served with a swatch of spinach and crusty potatoes, the fish needs only a few drops of lemon to bring out its flavor.

In the end, I’m left wishing the senior Grillo would trust his own tastes and not worry so much about playing to the idea of Italian food people already know.

If only he were really cooking the food of the Amalfi Coast -- bufala mozzarella grilled over lemon leaves, squid no bigger than your thumb and puttanesca made with deep-flavored San Marzano tomatoes. And if only the quality of his ingredients was better than ordinary.

Still, Amalfi Ristorante is appealing for its warm, festive atmosphere, conscientious service and rustic good looks. The food may not set off fireworks, but it’s certainly good enough to give Amalfi a place in your Italian address book.

*

Amalfi Ristorante

Rating: * 1/2

Location: 143 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 938-2504.

Ambience: Smart-looking loft-like Italian restaurant with stucco fireplace, chic banquettes and a lively bar scene with tables spilling out onto the sidewalk.

Service: Perfectly pleasant, and fast.

Price: Soups and antipasti, $6 to $11; salads, $6 to $12.50; main courses, $16 to $26; desserts, $7.

Best dishes: Pizzas, focaccia di bufoline, fritto misto, seafood salad, fennel and Parmesan salad, tagliolini with shrimp, ravioli di vitello, breaded veal chop, marinated Cornish game hen, la dolce zuppa Amalfitana.

Wine list: Stronger on Italian wines than domestic. Corkage, $15

Best table: The banquette next to the fireplace.

Details: Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner, 6 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, to 12:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking, $3.50.

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.