No room left for secondi

JUDGING from the crowd swarming the doors of the new Il Carpaccio in Pacific Palisades, you’d think the citizens of this wealthy neighborhood were starving. They are -- for a good restaurant that doesn’t demand a long drive. And now Antonio Muré, founding chef of Piccolo in Venice Beach and La Botte in Santa Monica, rides to the rescue with this new Italian.

Up front, the pizzaiolo is frantically turning out pies crafted with mozzarella and anchovies, artichokes and sausage. A pile of takeout boxes teeters to his left. A single gentleman reads the Wall Street Journal and tucks into a fine version of veal scaloppine with cubes of roasted potatoes and a glass of Nebbiolo. He’s happy. So is the big family group celebrating a birthday, and the two couples regaling each other with tales from the set of their latest movie.

Never mind that the place is a bit bare-bones, the tables wobbly and the lights tend to flicker. Muré is behind the stoves, furiously cooking up dishes familiar from his first two restaurants. There’s that wonderful raw artichoke salad with celery and shaved Parmigiano, and a fantastic carpaccio of seabass rolled up with sea urchin and cut in transparent slices. Beef carpaccio is the classic, with mustard sauce. There’s a puréed minestrone laced with maltagliati (“badly cut”) pasta, and aged prosciutto served with figs.

Pasta is a strong suit. Muré offers “lo spaghetto” with your choice of sauces, so you can actually show up with a kid who will only eat tomato sauce and make him or her a happy camper.

But there are also more unusual pasta dishes, such as tortelloni filled with potatoes and figs, squid ink noodles with Dungeness crab, or tagliatelle with wild rabbit ragù. He also makes a mean agnolotti, tiny pasta packets stuffed with beef and cabbage in a roasted garlic and rosemary sauce.

With all these appealing antipasti, pizzas and pasta, who needs secondi? Muré must be thinking that way, because, at least at the moment, he’s offering only a handful of main courses, such as that lovely scaloppine, along with a stuffed chicken, a lamb chop and beef filet.

Simple, no?

virbila@latimes.com

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Il Carpaccio

Where: 538 Palisades Drive, Pacific Palisades

When: 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays, 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays to Sundays. Beer and wine. Lot parking in front.

Price: Crudi, carpacci and antipasti, $9.50 to $16.95; pasta, $16 to $19; pizza, $12 to $14.95; main courses, $17 to $26

Info: (310) 573-1411, www.ilcarpaccioristorante.com