Dining out

Mary Furr

Wisely Paolo Pestarino, chef/owner of what was Stefano’s, Old World

Village, has changed little about the Italian restaurant but the name.

It’s now called Paolo’s Ristorante and is on the west side facing

Center Avenue. The table-filled dining room still has the village mural

on one wall, the vine rope with hanging grapes looped across the ceiling.

It has always been a chef-driven place, but now it’s even more

authentic and delicious -- from the fragrant crusty bread Paolo makes to

the rosemary herbs he grows in the tiny garden by the patio. With a

grandfather who was a chef on a big cruiser to a mother who owned a

restaurant in the Piedmont of northern Italy and taught him her way with

sauces, cooking, he says, is his passion.

Before choosing an entree begin with the biggest, most aromatic salad

-- fresh, crisp romaine with Gorgonzola and walnuts ($4.50) brought to

the table by server Carlo Mori, who, like Paolo, worked for many years on

cruise ships. Carlo lifts the oil-slicked leaves to my bowl spooning in

chunky blue vein-striped Gorgonzola cheese and halves of walnuts -- a

perfect combination with plenty to share.

If you’re choosing pasta, there is none better than the perfectly

named capellini tutti gusto (lunch $7.50, dinner $9.95). The thin pasta

is sauteed in Frantoio’s extra virgin olive oil imported from Italy with

sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, capers and sliced roasted peppers, which

combine well in the rich sauce. The serving is so generous and the

ambience so warm and family-like, you can understand why Italians love to

eat at home.

Another pasta, this one with sliced sausage, is linguine salsiccia

(lunch $7.95, dinner $13.95). The short tube pasta is sauteed with fresh

Italian sausage in a light tomato sauce. The sliced sausage is grainy

with bits of meat and fat in a light skin. It is served at dinner with

penne, the tubes coated inside and out with the sauce.

If you’re into more than pasta, a good selection is gamberi

(shrimp)/scampi style (lunch $11.50, dinner $16.95) large tail-on shrimp

sauteed in a medium thick white wine sauce flavored gently with garlic

and fresh herbs. The Mexican shrimp are large and firm, split and brushed

with garlic and olive oil. The wine sauce makes the dish. It’s assertive

without being overpowering.

Then there is fresh salmon (lunch $10.95, dinner $17.95), which at lunch is sauteed with lemon and capers, those great little buds that add

piquancy to the thick, pink, moist fillet. At night the preparation is

served with balsamic vinegar and herbs or in a champagne sauce with

mushrooms. All the sauces enhance the fresh Atlantic salmon, which is

true of nearly every dish at Paolo’s.

Tiramisu ($4.95) made by Paolo, is a nice, light cake square with a

touch of espresso coffee and dark cocoa but the other frozen desserts are

imported from Binbi, an Italian gourmet specialty shop. The chocolate

tartufo ($5.50), Italian for “truffle,” though small is really rich -- a

hardened ball coated with crisp crunched cookie crumbs served cut into

fourths and swimming in chocolate sauce.

The cuisine at Paolo’s Ristorante is authentic, delicious and varied.

This is not a quick lunch place. Sandwiches and salads are served more

quickly than entrees. Everything is prepared with care when ordered so

relax and wait, it’s worth it.

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

or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail o7 hbindy@latimes.com.f7

FYI

Paolo’s Ristorante

WHERE: 7561 Center Ave. #37 in Old World Village

HOURS: lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Closed

Mondays

PHONE: (714) 373-5399

MISC.: Beer and wine are served.