Artwork, Italian cuisine a good match

DINING OUT

Toscany, the Italian cafe in the long strip mall between Beach

Boulevard and Gothard Avenue, across from the old Huntington Beach

Mall, has had a checkered past.

Joseph Andrew is its most recent owner, but kitchen manager Jose

Hernandez has been there for nine years. The most recent addition is

Ryan Barnett, a cordon bleu-trained executive chef from Oregon. It is

he who has made a big difference in creating a varied menu of pastas

and pizza.

A good introduction is the express lunch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday

through Friday), which has nine entree choices as well as the Lunch

Pizza with six topping choices ($7.95).

The lunch begins with a salad with dewy, fresh greens topped with

a handful of ripe olives, a slice of cucumber and a tomato quarter.

The dressings are homemade and good -- I chose seasoned Italian. My

friend chose soup -- minestrone with lots of vegetables in a mild

spicy tomato broth.

Signature rolls, fresh from the oven and topped with sesame seeds

came with the lunch, even though my entree of ravioli came with thick

slices of rather ordinary buttered Italian bread.

The ravioli (lunch $5.95, dinner $7.25), five meat-filled pockets

served in a piping hot casserole just out of the oven, was very good

with two melted cheeses topping the light chewy pasta. The pasta is

thin, which I like since it keeps the calorie-loaded pasta to a

minimum and gives plenty of room for the excellent minced filling,

and served in a rich marinara.

If you’re a traditionalist, the spaghetti ($5.50) is a generous

pile of pasta. It was to have been topped with meat sauce, which

wasn’t available, so accommodating Ryan substituted a great fat

Italian sausage -- meaty, firm, not too spicy with a faint flavor of

anise.

A former owner says the cornerstone of Toscany is the pizza (11 to

15-inch, 8 slices, $10.75, 12 slices $14.95). We went for the special

($10.95 to $15.95), a beautiful thing to behold.

It’s New York-style with all the good meats you’d find in an

Italian kitchen. The crispy bottom and thick texture have enough body

to absorb the flavors of ham, sausage and salami with slices of

earthy mushrooms, crispy bits of bell peppers and onion. Wholly

satisfying, whether you eat-in, take-out or delivered -- pizza knows

no season.

Ah, desert! This too is made in the kitchen -- a

hot-from-the-oven, Creme Brule ($5.50) thick baked custard with

caramelized sugar topping that breaks like glass as soon as you spoon

it into the creamy custard.

We came at the beginning of the lunch hour and the service was

“express” but for patrons arriving at the height of the lunch hour,

service was slower -- an additional helper could be useful.

Toscany is a charming place decorated with original paintings by

Melodie Bell, with the latticed alcoves providing privacy and with

chef Ryan presenting an authentic hard to beat kitchen.

Some times treasures can be found in the most unlikely places as

at Toscany -- intimate and delicious.

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

comments or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail

hbindy@latimes.com.