A Moving Trattoria Experience

The first thing you notice when you walk into Pane e Vino is that everyone is moving . A waiter is delivering a pizza Margherita to the couple in the corner; a table-buser plucks an empty Pellegrino bottle from one table and a half-eaten plate of bresaola con rucola from another. In the open kitchen, a chef hands off an order of sausage and peppers with polenta to an anxious waitress, while the maitre d’ rushes past to greet a party of new arrivals.

The place has all the energy of a busy trattoria in Italy--which is exactly what the people at Pane e Vino are trying to duplicate.

The formula has been successful in Santa Barbara, where the original Pane e Vino opened two years ago. This new L.A. branch, however, has a wood-burning oven, which means in addition to the signature Pane e Vino menu of pastas, salads and rotisserie meats, you can get pizza, focaccia and calzone. One of the best things to get is schiacciata --hot Tuscan-style flat bread brushed with olive oil and stuffed with Speck (cured, smoked pork) and Gorgonzola.

Fresh fish changes according to what’s in the market; the day’s risotto depends on the chef’s whims. A version with tomatoes and basil was the good and soupy sort. Another fine dish: chicken roasted in a clay pot with garlic, rosemary and lemon.

Pane e Vino may not be the most original restaurant to hit Los Angeles, but it’s a good new place for this money-tight age.

* Pane e Vino, 8625 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 651-4600. Entrees $6.50-$17.