CUCINA BENE HAS THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

A restaurant that does a few things and does them well is much preferred over one that does a lot of things, but only some of them well.

Cucina Bene, new in Sherman Oaks in what was previously a Greek cafe, does things well.

Now a handsome, comfortable place, primarily decorated in beiges and browns and utilizing sturdy furnishings and snow-white linen, it presents a limited menu of mostly familiar Italian items, though fraught with some horrific misspellings.

And it has a staff that really fits the ``bends backward to please'' description.

First-time diners will find themselves confined to a small menu selection: three salads, three pastas and five desserts plus a selection of nine pizzas.

Which means that if they become regulars, they could eventually become relatively bored with the same few dishes.

But all is not lost.

One night recently, there were three soups offered: basil, which actually is a tasty tomato-basil combination; a thick, flavorful split pea soup; and an untried lentil soup, presumably all three at the same price (cup $2.95, bowl $4.95).

Meanwhile, the Cucina Bene kitchen bakes the kind of pizza I like best, the thin-crust, Milan-style pies that make excellent, shareable starters.

As for other starters, there's usually a complimentary plate of bruschetta and bite-size pieces of a sort of Italian quesadilla made with thin pizza dough and sweet red pepper. There's also a respectable version of Caesar salad ($8.50).

< Skillfully fashioned sauces are the basis for the good tastes of Cucina Bene's fare. Starting with the house tomato sauce used on the pizzas, then variations with garlic and/or a touch of hot pepper, plates come to the table with zestful flavor.

The garlicky tomato sauce boosts a seafood (mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp) fettuccine entree ($13.95), while a sweet marsala sauce is used effectively with either moist chicken breast ($13.95) or veal medallions ($15.95), both with fresh mushrooms.

In a similar manner with chicken ($13.95) and capers or scalloped veal ($15.95) with artichoke hearts, a nicely wrought lemon and white wine sauce is favored.

With slices of New York Black Angus steak ($19.95) the kitchen whips up a brandy cream sauce with good results. And, with salmon ($15.95), diners find a rather surprising, rather impressive pomegranate glaze.

Whitefish ($16.95) comes forth somewhat less significant in a hardly discernible white wine sauce but gets a little help from a topping of artichoke, mushrooms and olives.

Main-course plates appear to be platter size and arrive attractively adorned with a confetti of herbs and edible flowers.

Vegetable accompaniments often include a perfectly rounded scoop of mashed potato, which gives the plate in question a coffee-shop institutional touch.

< As for endings, I find two easy recommendations: one a dangerously sinful cream-stuffed crepe garnished with fresh berries ($6.50) and the other an almost-as-creamy rendition of Italy's flanlike panna cotta ($4.50), the one here potently flavored with espresso coffee sauce.

Larry Lipson co-hosts ``What's Cooking?'' a restaurant, wine and food talk show that airs from 8 to 9 a.m. Wednesdays nationally on Cable Radio Network (CRN) and National Radio Network (NRN), heard locally on KPXN-TV (PAX) Channel 30 SAP; Adelphia Santa Monica on C 74 SAP; Adelphia San Fernando Valley on Channel 1/97 SAP and 25; Time Warner West Valley on Channel 6 SAP and 960; AT&T on Channel 6 in the Valley and Channel 44 SAP in Los Angeles; Charter Communications on Channel 33 SAP; Adelphia Lancaster on Channel 37; Adelphia Simi Valley on Channel 8; Charter in Hidden Hills/Malibu/Agoura on cable FM 97.5; Avenue TV Cable Ventura on Channel 83; Charter San Gabriel Valley on Channel 34 SAP and Channel 56; Time Warner Canyon Country on Channel 960; Time Warner South Pasadena on Channel 6 and 960.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com

CUCINA BENE

Food: Three stars - Service: Three and one half stars - Wine: Two and one half stars

Where: 4511 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Phone: [phone].

Meals/hours: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, for dinner from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Food type: Italian.

Cost: Starters from $3 to $12, pizzas from $10 to $14, pastas and entrees from $11 to $20, desserts from $5 to $6.50.

Credit cards: All major.

Patio dining: Yes, in rear.

Parking/valet: Street and spaces in rear.

Full bar: No. Wine and beer license.

Wine/Corkage: 12-page, 30-label list of only Italian wines, priced from $5 to $7 by the glass, from $15 to $65 by the bottle. Corkage: $5.

Music/entertainment: Pianist sometimes on Friday and/or Saturday.

Takeout/delivery: Yes on takeout, delivery begins Sept. 25.

Reservations: Helpful. Needed on weekends.

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