When I walked into Buon Gusto Ristorante, an old school red sauce restaurant in a modern mall in Mission Hills, the first thing I heard was a Dean Martin classic, “That’s Amore.”
Two thoughts occurred to me: First, that it’s been a really long time since I’ve heard that song. And, second, it was quiet enough in Buon Gusto to actually hear the music. Noisy restaurants are one of the plagues of our age. I’ve been in hot spots that were so noisy, I’ve moved to the outdoor patio — and even the patio is noisy.
But at Buon Gusto, you can hear the music, and you can hear conversations. You can hear the servers explaining the dishes, though not much explanation is called for. This is the red sauce cooking most of us have been eating all our lives — including classics like lasagna heavy with cheese, chicken parmesan with a thick crust, cheese ravioli and, of course, spaghetti with meatballs. This isn’t so much a restaurant, as a journey down a very tasty memory lane.
Everything comes full circle. And that circle has returned to the delicious world of red sauce, with restaurants like Funke and La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills, Donnas in Silver Lake, and Sunday Gravy in Inglewood unexpectedly turning into the hottest tickets in town, with reservations that are nigh on impossible to score.
Trends come and go, but it’s not often that a trend from yesteryear becomes a trend of today. When it comes to classic Italian cooking, we embrace the joys of scampi, the wonders of sausage and peppers.
And to go with that, a welcome return to the happy days of the legendary Italian-American singers of yesteryear. Not just Dean Martin, but also (of course) Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Julius La Rosa, Al Martino — the list is long, and the songs are jammed with memories. The sound of Como crooning “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” brings me back to night at Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, my local Little Italy, where there was cheese on everything.
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On one level, the food of classic Italian cooking is defined as well by the ubiquity of cheese, as of red sauce. There’s cheese on the salads — gorgonzola in some cases, feta in others, with parmesan a ubiquity. There’s cheese on the pastas, in most cases added at the table until you decide you’ve had enough. (Have you ever seen that commercial featuring a woman who demands a mountain of parmesan cheese on her food? It’s an exaggeration that feels possible!)
There’s cheese on the chicken dishes, the veal and of course the pizzas. How diners in Rome, Milan and Florence stay so thin is a mystery. The explanation that their courses are smaller doesn’t give an answer. Walking all day probably does. Though, at Buon Gusto, there isn’t much walking to be done, before or after. I’m not sure strolling from your parking spot to the front door cuts it.
The mood at Buon Gusto is set not just by the music, but also by wall scenes of Italy, that are just so … idyllic. Spend enough time looking at them, and you’ll be far away from the traffic cruising the North Valley.
If you’re a party of two, a fine way to begin your meal is with the Antipasto Alla Buon Gusto — a big plate of prosciutto, salami, cheese, black olives, garbanzo beans, artichoke hearts, pepperoncini and grilled eggplant atop a bed of lettuce. If you ask, they’ll be glad to chop it, which makes for a far more complex mouthful than just eating it item by item. Add on the toasted bruschetta, and you’ve got a fine meal.
You also can do an appetizer combination, which the menu informs us is “most popular” of three items drawn from calamaretti, stuffed mushrooms, fried zucchini, brochette, mozzarella fresh or mozzarella fried. It’s good to see pastina — those little pasta stars — served in a broth. It’s a dish from my childhood that was served as a balm when I was under the weather.
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But honestly, for me, no meal in our resurgent world of red sauce classics is quite right without a heaping order of pasta. I’m not a huge fan of angel hair — not enough teeth. But gnocchi dumplings have lots of bite.
Fettuccine Alfredo is served with a choice of chicken or shrimp. Spaghetti and meatballs is iconic. Almost there is penne Bolognese. And once again, there’s a combination — in this case of pesto ravioli, mostaccioli in a cream sauce, and tortellini alla Bolognese.
With any luck, by that time, Tony Bennett will be singing. Especially “I Want to Be Around,” a love song about the sweetness of revenge. It’s every bit as sweet as the desserts served at Buon Gusto.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
Buon Gusto Ristorante
Rating: 2 stars
Address: 15535 Devonshire St., Mission Hills
Information: 818-893-9985, www.buongustoristo.com
Cuisine: Classic Italian
When: Lunch and dinner, every day
Details: Beer and wine; reservations helpful.
Atmosphere: Old school Italian in a medium-sized mall, with a fine soundtrack of Italian music, and a menu of the dishes we all grew up with.
Prices: About $35 per person
On the menu: 8 Appetizers ($6.95-$24.95), 4 Soups ($9.95-$29.95), 9 Salads ($5.95-$24.95), 17 Pastas ($10.50-$22.95), 10 Vegetarian Dishes ($10.50-$19.95), 5 Meat Entrees ($17.95-$37.95), 9 Seafood Entrees ($22.95-$29.95), 9 Chicken Entrees ($21-$24.95), 8 Veal Entrees ($17.95-$27.95), 8 Pizzas ($10.95-$21)
Credit cards: MC, V
What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.