ONE of the great advantages of Italian cooking is that
it lends itself to snacks. To eat Italian does not predicate a three- course meal: with the vast selection of piz- zas and pastas, and the care with which, in the best places, they are cooked, just a dish of each, perhaps accompanied by a salad, and followed by an espresso or cappuccino, with, maybe, an Italian ice cream or pastry, will make an entirely satisfying meal. More- over, such pasta and pizza establishments seem to have a joie de vivre all of their own, so that there are no grumpy frowns if you take a single course, just a jovial, friendly acknowledgment if you tell them you have enjoyed your brief and not too expensive meal.
A fine example of a place in this style is Spighetta in Blandford Street, lunching land between Baker Street and Marylebone High Street. This belongs to Giorgio LocateIli's Zafferano team, and they have recently opened another, similar establish- ment, Spiga, in Wardour Street, Soho, which I have yet to visit. Spighetta's chef is LocateIli's protege, Franco Parisi, young and keen, and in this slightly cacophonous, tile-floored, brightly lit basement he runs a highly agreeable establishment where I went to lunch with my friend and Maryle- bone neighbour, Flora Harvey. We both agreed that lunch was the preferred meal in such a place: too much clatter and noise for dinner time.
One of the features of Spighetta's large dining-room is the big wood-fired pizza oven at one end of it, and pizzas are very much a specialita della casa, with 12 vari- eties offered on the menu. In addition there are five antipasti, five pastas, and four 'daily specials' written in the corner of the menu: two fish and two meat. Flora and I decided to share a pizza, then to have a pasta each. We settled on the pizza bresao- la, with cured beef, tomato, rocket salad and goat's cheese. We were not disappoint- ed: a huge, but extremely thin, pizza arrived, generously covered with excellent bresaola, lovely fresh rocket and very light goat's cheese. It was a pizza to remember. Our pasta dishes that followed maintained the high standard. Flora had linguine alle vongole e peperoncino: gorgeous oil- infused, peppery linguine, served al dente with plenty of admirably fresh clams in their shells. My trenette al ragu d'anitra e funghi selvatici was equally successful: excellent pasta covered with a thick sauce of chopped duck, almost of a rillettes con- sistency, with fine wild mushrooms. Again full marks. Although we didn't need one, we shared a dessert, cannoli alla Siciliana: light pastry tubes filled with ricotta and candied fruit and surrounded by candied bitter oranges: sublime. With espressos to end and a bottle of decent Montepulciano for £9, this lunchtime feast cost just £40, and with less greed on our part could have been much less. Spighetta is a place to cherish.
So is Elistano in Elystan Street, which offers an Italianate restaurant du quartier to make up for the tragic loss of that much- loved leader of the genre, Au Bon Accueil, three doors along, which Piero and Paolo decided to close down a few weeks ago. Elistano is in fact in Au Bon Accueil's orig- inal premises, and very good they now look with walls a sun-baked umber, frescoes painted upon them, full-length windows wide open to the street and tables on the pavement on a summer evening. Full of the jeunesse doree of SW3, it radiated fun on a warm evening. My god-daughter Lucy WARNING: Taking impotence pills can have undesired side effects Gemmill and I discovered there was excel- lent value to be had here too. The menu offers ten antipasti, eight salads, a dozen pasta dishes and ten main courses, but no pizzas. Lucy started with deep-fried squid on a bed of lettuce, much enjoyed, and with some first-class carpaccio of beef with delicious thinly sliced parmesan. At £5 and £6.90 respectively these dishes seemed remarkable value. Next, Lucy plumped for the menu's costliest dish: linguine in a fine, garlicky tomato sauce accompanying 3 whole, small but perfectly formed baby lob- ster of impeccable freshness; she was well pleased. So was I with my excellent veal escalope Milanese served with marvellous spaghetti all' olio, aglio e peperoncino: fan- tastic value at £8.50, nor could I complain about £15 for Lucy's lobster. With coffee, aperitifs and a bottle of chianti, a bill of 1.5.6 for a delicious meal, charmingly served re attractive premises, was entirely acceptable, and I shall return.
More expensive and gastronomically les; exciting is Orsino in Portland Road, Hollann Park, where I went with Wendy and Janina Kidd after a performance of La Traviata ln the Albert Hall. We had an enjoyable enough meal, but the pizzas, though proper' ly thin, lacked the brilliance of those mode at Spighetta, and the pasta seemed stodgi compared to Spighetta's or Elistano S. Moreover, prices are higher: £8 for starters; £7.50 for pizzas, £8 for pasta, £12.50 to £1 for main courses — too much for a neigh- bourhood Italian in West London. My finest pizza and pasta experience °I the month was in Leeds, thanks to Mare°- Pierre White who sent me to see his lure mother's best friend, Gilda Porcelli (Walk. er) at her Pasta Romagna in Albion Place' a shopping precinct in the centre of town. There at 6 p.m. on a sunny Saturday peoPles were crammed at tables on either side the street while Mr Pavarotti belted Ott Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti through vas, speakers directed to the street, ian" Neapolitan Gilda sang along with Lucan° when not bawling at her delighted cosi tomers. The menu is short: three kinds,, pasta, two sauces, four pizzas, sold by. we slice at £1.75, with my vast bowl of delicious rigatoni costing just £4.50. Good, earl(,, Italian red is £2.25 a glass, and you can.r°' low with espresso, cappuccino and delicious home-made pastries. No wonder the plaec is packed out all week with satisfied cus. tomers, and that the Lady Mayoress recent. ly opened Gilda's downstairs extension. Pasta Romagna is where it's all happen °4 in Leeds.
Spighetta: 43 Blandford Street, London W-1; tel: 0171 486 7340. Open all week Elistano: 25-27 Elystan Street, London S013; tel: 0171 584 5248. Closed Sunday. Orsino: 119 Portland Road, London Pril; tel: 0171 221 3299. Open all week Pasta Romagna: Albion Place, Leeds; lel: 0113 245 1569. Open all week
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