APPETIZING START FOR CHIASO BISTRO.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

Chiaso may mean chaotic in Italian, but there's nothing obviously chaotic about Chiaso, the new Valencia restaurant.

In fact, a few weeks since its debut, things seem to be running smoothly at this storefront, shopping-center eatery, designated a ``modern Italian-American bistro'' by its management.

It's an interesting concept. What this bistro physically translates into is a casual, fully open space with a view kitchen, bar and dining area contained in the single large room, with floor-to-ceiling windows running across the entire front that includes an entry of glass doors.

A few booths sit against two walls of the dining area, a nicely arranged, uncrowded group of tables, neatly set on an uncarpeted floor, surrounded by comfortable chairs.

The crowd appears very local, mostly clad informally, though there's an occasional suit and tie noticeable on weeknights.

And the food is, for the most part, familiar Italian, but offers a few surprising departures.

The kitchen here loves to use apricot. It appears twice with duck, once on a fairly well-crafted individual pizza ($8.95) that shares honors with linguica Portuguese-style sausage, and with a tasty duck breast entree ($15.95) where a grappa sauce makes an impressive addition.

The same sun-dried strips of apricot also materialized one evening with the house version of bread pudding ($5.50), a carefully executed slab that suffices but doesn't excite.

What does excite here are the excellently prepared, du jour, vegetable puree soups ($2.95), one time a leek and potato mix with a spark of peppery seasoning, another time a multivegetable mixture of equal satisfaction having strong cauliflower overtones.

And rabbit fanciers will really enjoy the homey coniglio rendition here ($15.50) delivered in a basic brown sauce with mushrooms, coupled with a medium soft polenta enhanced with a tinge of mixed herb flavoring.

The polenta is one of the better entree accompaniments. Unfortunately the kitchen seems stuck on rice, often not particularly impressive stuff, and sometimes dolloped out in rather watery fashion.

One dish, grilled scallops and prawns ($13.75) in an innocuous white wine sauce termed Moroccan that the waitress had promised was ``spicy like Cajun,'' wasn't spicy at all. And, according to the menu, the seafood items were supposed to be paired with basmati rice. The rice delivered was not basmati.

Perhaps small pasta portions would work better than rice. Or different potatoes.

Potatoes may be safer. The au gratin ones with the breast of duck dish arrive properly prepared and quite tasty. Yet this dish would look so much better if the duck breast slices came up fat-trimmed and fanned carefully on the plate.

True, the kitchen uses the modern larger plates and bowls and gives them a pretty, confetti-style garnish, but on occasion the Chiaso vegetables are woeful, just a small heap of limp, overcooked strips of zucchini and squash. Because this is not always the case, one wonders if someone isn't paying attention to every serving.

This happened to some degree with an otherwise very good roasted pork dish ($13.50) one time, the meat deliciously moist in a fig and balsamic demi-glace sauce boosted with prosciutto - though this adds a touch of saltiness - and pine nuts. The possible inattention came from an accompanying heap of rice flecked with sweet pepper that was loose and watery and again, accompanying vegetables were overcooked.

Similarly, chicken breast with wild boar sausage ($12.95) seems like a great idea. It would be if the chicken could be kept from drying out.

On the other hand a hearty brim-filled bowl of mushroom-flavored gnocchi (potato flour dumplings, $9.75) is enough for larger appetites and presents a chorus of degrees of soft, savory and sweet with its button and porcini mushrooms, caramelized onions, pancetta (Italian-style bacon) and sage cream sauce.

And you won't go wrong if you start a Chiaso meal with a baked turnover stuffed with roasted chicken and tellegio cheese ($5.95) nestled in a pool of creamy roasted garlic sauce, the remainder of which begs to be soaked up in bread after the pastry has been eaten.

For dessert, try the boca negra ($5.50), a warmed flourless chocolate cake of intense flavor and almost fudgelike consistency.

The Facts

The restaurant: Chiaso.

Where: 23329 Lyons Ave., Valencia.

When: Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, for dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday, from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.

Recommended items: Pureed vegetable soups, duck pizza with linguica sausage, chicken and tellegio cheese in filo dough with garlic cream sauce, mushroom gnocchi, rabbit in mushroom sauce with herb polenta, duck breast with apricot grappa sauce, pork roast with fig balsamic demi-glace, boca negra.

How much: Starters and pizzas from $3 to $9, pastas and entrees from $8 to $18, desserts from $4 to $5.50. Full bar. All major credit cards except Discover.

Wine list: Straight-forward list of 35 reasonably priced bottlings features mostly Italians and Californians. There are a dozen priced under $20 and another dozen under $25. Gabbiano Titolato chianti classico '95 is a pleasant red for $20. Wines by the glass number 12 and range from $4 to $5.75. Corkage fee: $8.

Reservations: Suggested. Call [phone].

Our rating: three stars for food; three and a half stars for service; two and a half stars for wine.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO At Chiaso, chef-owner Thomas Caso and general manager Amy Finocchiaro offer up grilled prawns with fried leeks and a Mediterranean salad.

Terri Thuente/Daily News