It’s got everything but the canals

Down the block, the garish lights of Buca di Beppo beckon. But I’m headed somewhere else on Green Street: Trattoria Tre Venezie. The contrast between the two Pasadena Italian restaurants couldn’t be more delicious.

On the one hand is one of the most sophisticated Italian restaurants around, celebrating the cooking of the three regions in northeastern Italy with ancient links to Venice known collectively as Tre Venezie. This small, serene trattoria looks very much like one you might find in Trieste or Verona, and is rigorously authentic, uncompromising in its devotion to truly regional cuisine.

On the other hand, signore e signori, a travesty of Southern Italian cooking packaged in a decor that celebrates Italy as cliche -- with blaring paisano music, walls plastered with images of famous Italians and Italian Americans mixed in with bosomy babes that resemble Gina or Sophia. (Not that they aren’t there too, along with poor Joe Dimaggio and Father Guido Sarducci.) In one room, a life-size plastic head of the current pope rises out of the center of a table. Ring-a-ding-ding.

Over at Tre Venezie, classical music plays quietly in the background, but it’s so well chosen, I actually find myself listening closely. Copper pots hang from dark wooden beams. Shelves hold cookbooks, travel guides, art books and a slew of old cooking magazines in both Italian and English. An old map of Venice decorates the wall, along with framed photographs of skiing in the Dolomites taken so long ago they’re in black and white. The decor has a nostalgic, comforting feel that’s very personal.

Owners Maria Liana Sciolis, Antonio Sciolis and Maria Novella Rizzi have stayed true to their vision. Open the menu and unless you’ve been to Friuli or the Veneto, you may recognize only a few dishes. Is that wonderful or what? There’s cjalsons, half-moons of pasta with an exotic filling of ricotta cheese distinctively flavored with sweet spices, fruit and a pinch of cocoa, napped in clarified butter and served with grated smoked ricotta. I love the blecs di farro too, beige handkerchiefs of pasta made with farro, or spelt, the grain that fed the Roman soldiers. They’re served with a ragu that combines veal, beef and lamb. Dried plums are tucked at the heart of plump gnocchi di prugne secche, showing a strong Austro-Hungarian influence. Rolled in butter, bread crumbs and sugar, these potato dumplings are a delight.

When Tre Venezie first opened in 1999, I remember overhearing one of the owners say that if he had to compromise on the food, if people wouldn’t come for authentic Italian food, then he preferred to close the restaurant. Fortunately, after a slow and difficult start, Tre Venezie has gained a following for the elegant and soulful cooking of chef Gianfranco Minuz. He’s a professional through and through, and is constantly adding new and surprising dishes to an already terrific menu.

When I brought an Italian friend to dinner there recently, she spotted the casunziei she used to eat at her grandmother’s house in Trieste. These poppy seed ravioli are usually stuffed with pink beets, not red, she tells me, and wonders whether red might be too strong. But when the delicate half-moons freckled with brown butter arrive, the beet filling is incredibly subtle and delicious, set off by a grating of smoked ricotta, a specialty of Friuli.

She has a strong memory too, of her grandmother vigorously beating -- and beating -- salt cod with a wooden spoon to make the Venetian baccala mantecato, served here on little rafts of polenta as an antipasto. And though this Milanese girl is not a fan of sauerkraut, she still loves jota, a typical Trieste soup of borlotti beans laced with kraut, which happened to be a special that night. It’s peppery and spicy enough to take the chill off the bones of anyone braving the icy bora, the ferocious winter wind that roars through Trieste at such a pitch that pedestrians cling to ropes along the streets in order to not be swept away.

Not all the dishes at Tre Venezie are as traditional as jota. Minuz pairs a beautiful piece of seared foie gras with a silky compote of green tomatoes. It’s a brilliant combination of flavors, sweet and tart at the same time, cutting through the richness of the duck liver like a hot knife. Wild house-smoked salmon is translucent at the center, slightly charred on the outside. The smokiness seems to suit the marvelous flavors of the lean wild salmon.

Boreto alla Gradese has been on the menu since Day One, and is made with different fish, depending on the season and the market. The version I tried was halibut cooked in hot oil with garlic and a splash of vinegar and set down with its sauce on a pillow of coarse yellow polenta. Sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, the dish is oddly compelling.

Pan-roasted smoked pork chop with Gorgonzola at first take sounds perfectly awful. It’s Minuz’s sense of balance that makes the pungent blue cheese sauce work. Thick and juicy, the chop is served with a gentle sauerkraut and has become one of my favorite dishes at Tre Venezie. Bollito (boiled beef) is a second. Though it sounds simplistic, the moist, flavorful beef can be sublime, especially when you taste it with mostarda di Cremona, which is really sort of an Italian chutney of whole candied fruit brought to sharp attention with a dose of senape, or essence of mustard.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire left its mark on a number of the region’s dishes, including the beef goulash served one night as a special. Made with Hungarian paprika, the sauce is compellingly complex and smoky, though the beef could have been perhaps a bit more tender. Dry-aged New York steak in red wine sauce, though, is a bit dull -- but it is almost anywhere. And venison scaloppine in a blueberry and dried plum sauce from the Italian Alps is disappointing because of the venison’s unappealing, mushy texture.

The restaurant offers a good cheese plate with eight or so choices, including Parmigiano Reggiano, a ricotta the chef smokes himself, pecorino Toscano and a truffle-scented cheese. However, the fact that our waitress presents the cheeses while wearing latex gloves conjures up images best kept far from the table. She also, oddly, refers to every female at the table as “milady.” Where this custom comes from, I have no idea, but it’s hard to keep a straight face.

Apple strudel! When is the last time anyone glimpsed that on the menu? The pastry is hand-pulled, strewn with apples and raisins and absolutely delicious. Tre Venezie also has the distinction of serving the best tiramisu in all of Southern California. That’s because it’s the real thing (tiramisu, after all, comes from the Veneto). Made with luscious mascarpone layered with espresso-soaked lady fingers and dusted with cocoa, it sits on a square ochre plate in a moat of dark espresso sauce. Even better, though, is crema di gondoliere, a divine Venetian-style panna cotta sweetened with caramelized sugar and nestled in a tender wavy crust.

The wine prices are a bit high, and the list could better showcase up-and-coming producers. After dinner, though, Tre Venezie shines. To cap off the evening, you can indulge in a glass of grappa from the glittering display on the bar or try one of the intriguing 18th century-style after-dinner liqueurs the chef makes by macerating various herbs, fruits and flowers in alcohol.

As we gather our things to leave one night, I notice two of the owners settled at the back table, reading the paper companionably while the chef wanders out front to check the next night’s reservations. That relaxed on-site presence is what makes the restaurant work so well.

*

Trattoria Tre Venezie

Rating: ***

Location: 119 W. Green St., Pasadena; (626) 795-4455.

Ambience: Serene Northern Italian restaurant decorated with old prints of Venice, hanging copper pots and bookshelves full of cookbooks. Good classical music plays in the background, yet it’s quiet enough to talk. A jewel just a block off Colorado Boulevard.

Service: Gracious and efficient.

Price: Dinner appetizers, $8.50 to $14.50; first courses, $14 to $23; main courses, $14 to $35; desserts, $7.50 to $12.

Best dishes: Cjalsons, prosciutto di San Daniele, seared foie gras with green tomato compote, baccala mantecato, jota, blecs di farro, casunziei, gnocchi di prugne secche, bollito, boreto alla Gradese, house-smoked pork chop, apple strudel, crema di gondoliere, tiramisu.

Wine list: Well-meaning, mostly Italian list, which could use more cutting-edge producers to show the best from Italy. Corkage, $18; magnum, $35. Minimum two bottles per table.

Best table: One in the front window.

Details: Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Valet parking, $5; street and lot parking also available.

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.