THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH (TO DIG INTO ITALIAN FOOD).

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

IF YOU ENTER the new Bacco Trattoria in Burbank through its Italian deli area, you'll sniff all those salumeria goodies like prosciutto, bresaola and salsiccia, and you'll be doubly hungry by the time you're seated in the dining room.

Bacco, which replaced La Scala Presto as the bottom-floor tenant of the Disney Channel building, has been slow getting off the ground. It was still using a lunch menu for dinner patrons through the first week of August, though an expanded dinner menu was promised at the beginning of the month.

Promoted as a trattoria, marketplace and wine bar, Bacco has also been waiting for alcoholic beverage license approval. It possesses a wine rack wall at its entrance holding some fine brunellos, barolos and amarones that are aging gracefully and a bar in the rear. Both await the go-ahead from the state.

Meanwhile, its kitchen turns out some pretty good Italian fare, starting with a heaping cioppino-style bowl of soup ($8.25) that's a bargain seafood bonanza and a creamy burrata cheese plate ($7.50) with fresh basil, arugula and sweet tomato slices that is the perfect antipasto dish.

There are other starters worth mentioning, one being a handsome filet mignon carpaccio ($8.75) arranged on a square white plate with arugula, thin shavings of Parmesan cheese and sliced fresh mushroom.

Florentine-style spinach, wild mushroom and fontina cheese-stuffed buckwheat crepes ($7.50) would have been marvelous one time if the sauce hadn't been a tad too salty.

One of the better pasta offerings, the linguine with fresh littleneck clams ($12.50) certainly beats by a mile those that use canned clams (although some people prefer the sweeter little Manila clams to littlenecks), and there's also a decent pumpkin and sage butter tortelli recipe ($10.50).

Bacco's kitchen makes a fine minestrone ($4.25), full of lilting, fresh, aromatic vegetables, but its pasta-and-beans soup had a peculiar vinegary flavor one night.

I'm inclined to think that the ``less is more'' theory works here when it comes to pizzas. The fact that they're thin-crusted is a plus, but when a fairly heavily topped pizza like Bacco's ``Montanara'' ($10.95) version with tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, Italian sausage and mushrooms arrives, it's noticeably droopy from dough too moist and evidently over- encumbered with ingredients.

From the limited entree specialty list, the interesting-sounding zucchini-wrapped lamb loin medallions ($15.95) have not been available. ``We ran out,'' or ``We just sold the last order,'' were the reasons given.

But alternative satisfaction in the form of good Italian sausage with sweet tomatoes, bell peppers and a sangiovese red wine sauce ($11.75) on one occasion and respectable scallops of lightly breaded veal with artichoke hearts, mashed potatoes and a rich chardonnay sauce ($14.75) another time, quelled the disappointment caused by the missing lamb.

Finish off with the house apple tart ($4.50), preferably heated, and you'll probably leave Bacco reasonably happy, certainly pleased with the attentive service, moderate cost and pleasant environment.

Also, no doubt, ready to return as soon as the full dinner menu appears and the wine bar is up and running.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com

BACCO TRATTORIA

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

Where: 3821 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank.

Hours: Open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturdays.

Recommended items: Cioppino Ligure, minestrone, carpaccio manzo, linguine vongole, tortelli zucca, sausage and peppers, apple tart.

How much: Starters from $4.25 to $9, pastas and entrees from $8.75 to $16, desserts $4.50 each. No alcohol; license pending. Major credit cards accepted.

Reservations: Helpful. Call [phone].

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Photo:

Bacco Trattoria, in the Disney Channel building in Burbank, serves up a rack of lamb with seasonal vegetables.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer