Wrong Turn in La Costa Mall Leads to a Pleasant Surprise

Combing the growing legion of mini-malls and convenience centers in North County is a sure-fire way to keep abreast of new entries.

Ethnic eateries especially seem to find homes in these centers, and a wrong turn taken in a recent search for a reportedly good Chinese house in a La Costa mall led straight to the door of Roma Mia, a relatively formal Italian restaurant with a broad menu, a short wine list and restaurateur-musician Enrico Pianori on a miniature stage.

Menu notes written by the Rome-born Pianori (“Roma Mia,” of course, means “My Rome”) claim that food and music are both “the soul of Italy” and “a labor of love,” and go on to express the hope that guests will feel and taste the combination.

Pianori’s voice, guitar and electronic musical backup provide most of the mood, and the songs, largely Latin in inspiration, are indeed well, and not intrusively, performed. The decor, relying largely on maroon table linens and candles, is spare but somehow formal; the servers wear black tie--a rarity these days--and seem diligent if not always perfectly informed on some of the basics of service.

That menus at ambitious Italian restaurants can resemble one another mightily while avoiding duplication is a continuing source of amazement and testimony to the seemingly inexhaustible Italian repertoire of dishes. At Roma Mia, the starters generally are familiar, but the impressively lengthy selections of pastas and entrees include many preparations that seem locally unique to this establishment.

Like many better Italian houses, Roma Mia places an antipasto table near the entrance. This particular display is vegetarian (in the absence of meat and cheese, it perhaps is priced a bit grandly at $3.95) and reliant largely upon grilled-and-marinated vegetables, recently including mushrooms, green bell pepper, yellow squash, zucchini and eggplant, with a narrow wedge of vegetable-flecked frittata (thin omelet) for diversion. An olive oil-balsamic vinegar combination brought a good, rich, tart finish to the assembled veggies, most notably to the yellow squash, which in other guises can be unappealing.

Other opening choices include mussels flavored with tomato, oregano and garlic; the “ piedina ,” an evident approximation of pizza based on pita bread; stracciatella , the famous Roman chicken broth enriched with beaten eggs, Parmesan and spinach, and a very nicely done, fully flavored Caesar salad.

The excellent pasta list names many unusual offerings, including a meatless cannelloni stuffed with spinach, eggs and mozzarella; the fettuccine alla papalina , or freshly made egg noodles with mushrooms, ham, peas and a creamed tomato sauce; macaroni with broccoli, capers and olive oil, and the penne Enrico, or quill-shaped macaroni tossed with eggplant, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.

Artichokes appear often in Roman cooking, and at Mia Roma they team with a sauteed chicken breast in the petti di pollo dorati . Among the red meats, the sauteed Roman-style lamb chops were somewhat disappointing, not for the flavoring--an excellent combination of sage, rosemary and garlic--but because they were a little overcooked and dry. The superior veal list offers many choices, notably veal Nerone (with brandy, cream, mushrooms, bell peppers and a spoonful of tomato sauce), the Rugantino, or scaloppine finished with white wine, spinach and Fontina cheese, and the veal scallops puttanesca . This last, named frankly for prostitutes and referential to a quick, spicy sauce they reputedly concocted during breaks, has a zesty, pungent, enticing flavor compounded from capers, chunks of green and black olives, red pepper and tomatoes. This and other entrees are accompanied by a dish of spaghetti topped with a simple, well-flavored marinara sauce.

The short seafood list makes much of shrimp (particularly in the “Imperiali” version, which echoes this area’s so-called but beloved “shrimp scampi”), but also offers salmon in an interesting vegetable sauce and fried sole in a white wine-lemon sauce.

The two homemade desserts both come off very well. The tiramisu , a familiar pudding of whipped mascarpone cheese, sponge cake and liqueurs, is better done than most, and the copa (“cup”) Roma Mia combines custard, cake and chocolate sauce with a tongue-teasing spritz of anisette liqueur.

Roma Mia

7720 El Camino Real, Carlsbad (La Costa)

Calls: 943-8403

Hours: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday, closed Monday.

Cost: Pastas and entrees $9.95 to $18.95. Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $35 to $65.