RETURN OF THE FRASCATI THE NAME SOUNDS FAMILIAR, BUT THIS ITALIAN EATERY HAS A STYLE ALL ITS OWN.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

THE NAME FRASCATI evokes memories of the onetime Frascati restaurants in Los Angeles, one of which, on La Cienega Boulevard, I was taken to in my teens by my parents on my birthday.

Those Frascatis have been gone for a long time. But now there's a Trattoria Frascati in Woodland Hills in a pleasingly transformed Taste of Scandinavia space of beiges and cream tones, sporting a small boulevard patio, a back wall wine bar and a bustling semi-view kitchen. In its first few days all it seems to have lacked are candles, flowers and a pizza oven.

The semi-view kitchen forms the stage for the trattoria's star, its chef and co-owner Angelo DiSanto, previously at Georgio in Santa Monica and Bice in New York.

DiSanto, who hails from the Frascati area near Rome, wears a rakish floppy toque, stocks his hometown white wine as the house white pour, and is quick to converse with guests about any aspect of Italian food or wine, obviously his passion.

Ask for his house-produced gnocchi ($13.50) and he'll likely suggest an alternative flavoring to the listed truffle oil and fontina cheese. He'll convince you that his freshly made, meaty, tomato-based ragu saucing will push his gnocchi to the very summit of superiority. And you'll at least half believe him.

Suffice it to say, his gnocchi rises several notches above average.

And I can't help liking a restaurant that offers four soups every day plus an occasional soup du jour.

His hearty Tuscan-style ribollita ($6.50) is the ``reboiled'' vegetable soup of Tuscany that's often thickened with bread. And there's the more familiar minestrone ($6.50), here correctly prepared, alive with the scent and texture of fresh vegetables.

He stuffs ground veal into his tortellini and floats them in a fragrant broth for a tasty, steaming version of the traditional tortellini in brodo ($7.50).

There's also the untried pasta e fagiole ($6.50), pasta and bean soup.

DiSanto's kitchen makes a refreshing arugula salad ($7.50) at lunchtime with a balsamic dressing, caped with thinly shaved parmesan. In the evening it becomes a tricolore salad at the same price with the addition of endive and radicchio.

Sometimes at dinnertime a complimentary plate of bruschetta (toasted, sliced bread topped with a chopped tomato, basil and olive oil mixture) is placed on the table.

Antipasti worth trying are a bowl of fresh clams ($8.50) in a garlicky wine sauce and yellow-toned, grilled polenta generously covered with a straw mushroom sauce ($8.50).

Ravioli ($13.50) here is a respectable rendition, cooked to al dente texture, stuffed with a porcini mixture, fashioned into a sort of oval shape and delivered with a savory porcini sauce.

A satisfying half-chicken al mattone ($12.50) comes up moist and flavorful after being flattened out and roasted on hot bricks. And the classic veal scaloppine served with porcinis ($13.50) at night is layered with prosciutto and mozzarella at lunchtime for a fine Roman-style saltimbocca dish ($13.50). These plates arrive dramatically arranged with the main ingredients stacked on a heaping bed of spinach.

You won't find much for dessert here other than the ubiquitous tiramisu plus sorbetti and spumoni.

But you'll probably be quite full by then, anyway.

If not, there's always a plate of dry cheeses and a glass of sweet Vin Santo ($10) for a truly Italian ending.

Alla salute!

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com

TRATTORIA FRASCATI

Food: Three and one half stars. Wine: Three stars. Service: Three stars.

Where: 21136 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills.

Hours: Open for lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, for dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. nightly.

Recommended items: Arugula salad, soups (ribollita, minestrone, tortellini in brodo), clams in garlic wine sauce, polenta and mushrooms, gnocchi, ravioli, pollo al mattone, veal scaloppine, saltimbocca alla Romana (lunch only).

How much: Starters from $6.50 to $12.50, pastas and entrees from $7.50 to $21.50, desserts from $5.50 to $10. Beer and wine. AE, MC, V.

Wine list: Multipage list indicates appropriate strength in Italian imports at reasonable markups. Bottles priced from $15 up. Recommended: '99 Doge Chianti Classico ($25). Corkage: $8.

Reservations: Suggested. [phone].

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Photo:

(1 -- 2) At Trattoria Frascati in Woodland Hills, head chef and owner Angelo DiSanto salutes customers with specialties including Spaghetti All'Aragosta, top.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer