DINING OUT -- MARY FURR

Randazzo Italian Cafe, at the end of a long mini-mall stretching along

Beach Boulevard from Atlanta Avenue to nearly Pacific Coast Highway,

offers instant friendship along with homemade mostaccioli. It’s a cafe

like one you’d find in any neighborhood piazza in Italy.

Red checkered vinyl covers the nine tables in the small cafe, the

wedding pictures of owners Dennis and Carole Kees’ son centers a wall

covered with hundreds of snapshots of friends and patrons. It’s a place

the postman leaves the mail and stays for a light lunch of soup and

salad.

A small salad of mixed greens, ‘cukes and tomatoes has a creamy

Parmesan and garlic dressing so special that Janeen Peasley, temporary

manager, says diners ask for it to dip French fries in and smear on

sandwiches, a popular menu item. Carole created the fireman sandwich

(small $4.75, lunch $6.99) for three Huntington Beach firemen with

sauteed chicken featuring this great dressing and has it topped with

shredded Parmesan.

Randazzo also makes an excellent hot pastrami sandwich (6-inch: $3.60,

12-inch: $5.99) -- a warm crust roll with mustard and pickle just stuffed

with lean pastrami slices. Pastrami, a Romanian word that means “to

preserve,” is slices of beef, dry-cured, rubbed with seasoning (lots of

garlic on these) and then cooked.

Huntington Beach police officers often drop by in midafternoon, their

lunch hour, so Carole devised the cop sandwich (6-inch: $5.75, 12-inch:

$7.99) for Ron and Jeff of the Huntington Beach Police Department -- a

hot sauteed chicken and mushroom with avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion,

mayonnaise and hot peppers with jack cheese -- a real mouthful any time

of day.

For co-owner husband Dennis, Carole has created a hot dinner dish --

Randazzo chicken ($9.59) that’s also a favorite with diners. The split,

deboned double breast is tender and thick, lightly breaded, covered with

mozzarella and baked in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon until it’s hot

and the cheese melted. Served with a side of thin chewy spaghetti covered

in thick marinara, it’s irresistible. Just relax and enjoy, you can diet

tomorrow.

Shrimp scampi ($11.99) the only seafood dish offered, is eight tail-on

medium shrimp in a wonderful wine, garlic and butter sauce infusing

slender linguine. It’s an aromatic sauce with the heady aroma of wine,

pebbled with tiny bits of garlic. Sprinkled with cilantro, its innocent

look belies its intensely delicious flavor. A basket of split garlic

rolls served with pastas is rather dry.

Impossible as it seems, you cannot leave without trying Carole’s

famous cheesecake (slice $3, whole $26) a wonderful cinnamon graham crust

topped with a light fluffy slightly grainy filling with a smooth cream

topping. There are lots of stars on the menu but the gold one goes to the

homemade cheesecake.

You may be tempted to keep Randazzo Italian Cafe to yourself but be

generous and spread the word of your deliciously rich discovery.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments

or suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.

o7 FYI

f7 Randazzo Italian Cafe

ADDRESS: 21148 Beach Blvd. at Atlanta Ave., Huntington Beach.

PHONE: (714) 536-2448

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m to 8 p.m.

Sunday. Closed Monday.

MISC.: Credit cards accepted.