Shifting focus to the sides

Even if you live in Montrose, it might be hard to spot Bric Montrose tucked improbably in the corner of a nondescript strip mall. The location is so discreet you’d never know it was there unless you set out to look for it. Inside, tall padded banquettes covered in muted ticking and tables swathed in white cloths give it a welcoming, cozy look.

The restaurant is owned by Eugenio Spano, who is also the chef, though this is his first foray into the kitchen. Most recently he was wine buyer at Vincenti in Brentwood, and he worked in the dining room at the late Rex in downtown L.A.

His menu at Bric Montrose focuses on cooking of Genoa, where he grew up. Liguria is Italy’s Riviera, known for its wonderful pastas (think pesto), focaccia and seafood. Spano’s menu also makes occasional forays into nearby Piedmont and includes favorites like lasagna and minestrone alla Genovese.

Spano’s strength is in an appealing array of antipasti. You can get a mixed plate of thick slices of chewy, authentic salami with good quality Parma ham, pancetta and speck, a smoky raw-cured ham from the mountains. His bresaola is the real thing: thinly sliced air-dried beef served with arugula and burrata, a creamy fresh mozzarella.

Sometimes he makes an unusual pasta e fagioli, more tomato-y than most and laced with calamari, shrimp and clams. His fresh marinated anchovies are a bit too sharp with vinegar, but give the caprese salad -- sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and sweet basil -- a couple of weeks. By then the tomatoes to do this salad justice will really have come into season. If you don’t have a first-class tomato, caprese just doesn’t work.

Tops on his pasta list is pesto: in this case, wide supple noodles of fresh pasta tossed with green beans and diced potato in a light and fragrant pesto sauce. Although I enjoyed the meat ragu that sauced his ravioli alla Genovese, the pasta itself was more tough than tender. Even so, Spano’s choice of pasta dishes shows a real passion. None of them are cliches.

The kitchen is more wobbly when it comes to the main courses, so much so that the contorni or side dishes can outshine the main attraction. However, grilled lamb chops with tarragon are perfectly fine, and pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon could be if the meat were cooked just a little less.

Though Bric Montrose’s menu may be a tad too ambitious for the kitchen’s capabilities, at least it’s trying.

And Spano has put together a remarkably savvy little wine list for such a small neighborhood restaurant with an obviously modest budget. He’s not gouging on the markups either, and if he can spare a few minutes from the kitchen, he can offer canny and enthusiastic advice on which wine to have with which dishes.

Plans are to add a regular program of live jazz in the bar on weekends and eventually to open for lunch.

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Bric Montrose

Where: 2833 Honolulu Blvd., Montrose

When: Dinner, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Cost: Appetizers, $7 to $10; pasta and risotto, $10 to $16; main courses, $16 to $24; desserts, $5. Full bar. Parking in lot in front

Info: (818) 248-0009