Osteria Del Fornaio

By MERV HECHT | Restaurant Critic

One evening, my friend and I decided we wanted Chinese food for dinner, so we went to the Lotus on 4th and Wilshire, which I have previously reviewed favorably. We arrived there to find it had closed—so much for Chinese food near the ocean. I heard a rumor recently that it will reopen as a Korean steak house. That will be nice—stay tuned.

We were pretty hungry, so we saw a new restaurant across the street—Osteria Del Fornaio—and decided to go there. I had seen it for a while but hadn’t tried it yet.

We were pleasantly surprised. The room was light and airy with high ceilings, and tables around a long table where large groups could sit (and did while we were there) with good spacing between the tables.

It reminded me a bit of Basque restaurants where single people sat at a large table and mingled with others. Did you know there used to be a Basque restaurant in Santa Monica?

In any event, this is a beautiful restaurant. There are two patios outside: one covered and one open air. This will be a terrific venue if Santa Monica ever heats up.

I saw some good-looking pizza coming out of the open view kitchen, but we decided on pasta. Both pasta dishes were excellent, and we were too full for dessert.

The menu was pretty standard for Santa Monica Italian restaurants, but there is a chef’s special menu each week. There are so many Italian restaurants in Santa Monica that it’s hard to find one that has something special that makes it worth going to. When I say something special or different, I mean something like the duck ragu pasta I had at Felix.

The food and service here is good, it has a nice setting, and the prices are middle of the road. They have an excellent drink menu, although the wine list is average.

If I find myself nearby one night when I’m hungry I’ll probably stop in, and perhaps have one of the very attractive courses on the menu, such as the Grilled Cauliflower, the Pollo ai Funghi ($34) or the Costata al Pepe (ribeye steak in brandy sauce $49).

All of these dishes look very good on the menu. But I might end up at one of the other 200 Italian restaurants in town.

Merv Hecht, like many Harvard Law School graduates, went into the wine business after law. In 1988, he began writing restaurant reviews and books. His latest book “The Instant Wine Connoisseur, 3rd edition” is available on Amazon. He currently works for several companies that source and distribute food and wine products internationally. Send comments to mervynhecht@yahoo.com.