ITALIAN EATERY MUST FIND ITS OWN NICHE : THE FACTS.Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic Visiting the new Gambrino's Ristorante for the first time on a recent weekday evening, I was reminded of how attractive the dining room is. It had the same tiered arrangement as when it was Vivaldi. A gleaming brass rail tops the half-wall dividing the floor and the step-up platform. Cool green carpeting and comfortable cane-backed armchairs stir memories of before. Even the menu seems vaguely the same. Didn't I enjoy a grilled vegetable plate and a sausage and peppers dish at Vivaldi? Well, come to think of it, most of the Italian restaurants in the suburbs happen to have these items on their menus. And perhaps that's the reason some fall by the wayside. With all its good looks, Gambrino's would make a much better impression if it were culinarily distinctive. Jumping into the hotly competitive Italian trattoria-ristorante category, Gambrino's opened on a site that was, to all intents and purposes Adv. 1. to all intents and purposes - in every practical sense; "to all intents and purposes the case is closed"; "the rest are for all practical purposes useless" for all intents and purposes, for all practical purposes , doing the same thing - and the first one didn't make it. While it's true that the new restaurant's food is mostly tasty and reasonably priced, it doesn't always deliver. A soup listing on the lunch menu invitingly describes pasta e fagioli soup ($4.50) on Monday and Friday as a ``homemade blend of beans, ground beef and pasta in a rich, spicy broth.'' But at lunchtime on a Friday it was ordered and the waitress returned to say they didn't have the item after all. What a letdown. Breast of chicken in a white wine and garlic cream sauce cream sauce n. A white sauce made by cooking together a mixture of flour and butter with milk or cream. Noun 1. cream sauce - white sauce made with cream with potatoes in a dish called pollo al Gambrino ($6.95 at lunch, $8.95 at dinner) is evidently a house specialty, but the chicken arrives rubbery, basically inedible, and has to be returned. It comes back quickly, obviously a new piece and certainly not overcooked, but just as rubbery. OK, so we get a generous portion of pasta, sausage and peppers ($6.95 at lunch, $8.50 at dinner) in its place, and it's pretty good. Ditto for the al dente al den·te adj. Cooked enough to be firm but not soft: pasta al dente. [Italian : al, to the + dente, tooth. spaghetti marinara ma·ri·na·ra adj. Being or served with a sauce of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices: spaghetti marinara. n. Marinara sauce. ($7.50), fusilli fu·sil·li n. Pasta in short spirals or corkscrews. [Italian, from pl. diminutive of fuso, spindle, from Latin f  sus.] with eggplant and a fresh tomato sauce ($7.50), and a balsamic-sweet, richly sauced small veal T-bone steak ($12.95) with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables another time. And curiously, on that same evening, a piece of neatly grilled chicken breast in marsala-mushroom sauce ($9.50) was soft and moist. Guess the poultry purveyor (World-Wide Web) Purveyor - A World-Wide Web server for Windows NT and Windows 95 (when available). http://process.com/. E-mail: <info@process.com>. delivered to Gambrino's a batch of toughies. Which makes keeping customers happy that much tougher. The restaurant: Gambrino's Ristorante. Where: 4954 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks. When: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, for dinner from 5 to 10:30 p.m. nightly, to 11:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Recommended items: Soup of the day Soup of the Day is the loosely scripted 2006 internet phenomenon that told the story of one man who is dating three women at the same time. Each of the 19-episodes of the story was its own 4-6 minute self-contained viral video. The entire series can be seen at [1] [2]. , fusilli Siciliana The siciliana or siciliano is a musical form often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow 6/8 or 12/8 time with lilting rhythms making it somewhat resemble a slow jig, and is usually in a minor key. , veal T-bone with balsamic balsamic (bäl·sämˑ·ik), n a substance that can soften and reduce mucus. sauce, pollo al marsala, sausage and peppers, ravioli, spaghetti, chocolate-raspberry mousse cake. How much: Starters and pizzas from $2 to $15, pastas and entrees from $7 to $13, desserts from $2.50 to $3.75. Wine and beer. All major credit cards. Wine list: Minimal starting list with six pinot grigios, four chardonnays, a white zinfandel white zinfandel n. A medium-sweet rosé wine made from zinfandel grapes. , four Chiantis, two cabernets and a couple of merlots. Prices are low, with only four bottles over $20 and two as cheap as $10. Reservations: Helpful. Call (818) 905-1977. Our rating: Two and 1/2 stars for food; two stars for service; two and 1/2 stars for wine. |
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