RESTAURANT REVIEW : Nest of Ojai’s Italian Cuisine Mixes Elegance and Earthiness

In the beginning, the Nest of Ojai was exactly what you’d expect from the name: a cozy little sandwich shop across the street from the Ojai Museum.

In the course of passing through several owners, it has evolved into the very epitome of Ojai-style coziness. There’s a skylight in the corrugated roof and lots of tasteful woodwork against the light-colored walls, particularly in the bar. The sound track is soothing, static New Age music exclusively.

The Nest still has some sandwiches at lunchtime, but the menu has become much more ambitious. The current chef is Aldo Saad, formerly chef at a number of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills restaurants, and he specializes in Northern Italian food, though with tendencies toward both elegant nouvelle cuisine and earthy peasant cooking. And here and there, as if in a gesture of coziness, he includes dishes that might be American, if we could be so lucky.

On the elegant side is the ultra-modern array of vegetables that accompanies most entrees: baby carrots, baby white carrots, squash blossoms, terrifically fresh green beans, pale-fried chunks of potato the size of marbles, a lozenge of puffy corn polenta. The entree might be something like ahi tuna in a pool of sharp lime butter sauce with a little star pattern of kiwi puree painted on it, or very tender Santa Barbara abalone with shiitake mushrooms and butter.

On the earthy side is pappardelle con anatra : a plate piled high with broad noodles, chunks of duck, thick duck gravy, spinach and lentils. This is a heavy, meaty dish, though the effect is lightened a little by a couple of radicchio leaves scattered around like red-purple arrows pointing out of the brown and green hill of pasta.

The sandwiches at lunch are American, of course. Oddly, at dinner the veal in brown butter sauce seems American too, a sort of veal cutlet with excellent crunchy breading. It is topped with what is, in effect, a tomato and exotic lettuce salad, as if the nation’s most elegant truck stop served its salads on top of the entrees.

Mostly, though, we have orthodox Northern Italian food: say, fettuccine in cream sauce with peas and strong, salty ham, or lobster ravioli in butter (well, there’s a little French-style tarragon in there too). Of course, there’s a thoroughly Spanish paella lurking around, the rice mixed with fish, clams, mussels and cumin-heavy homemade sausage.

Come to think of it, when the Nest serves osso buco , it’s not as orthodox as it might be. Instead of the usual creamy risotto, the veal shank comes with a mold of saffron rice spotted with peas and bits of sweet pepper. The shank is served whole, too, rather than cut into segments.

The appetizer list is rather short, but it includes a rugged bresaola salad full of chunks of artichoke heart and lots of shaved Parmesan, as well as slivers of dried beef among the lettuces. The only weakness among the appetizers is the eggplant. The thin slices folded with tomato sauce and melted cheese seem too simple and unassuming for an appetizer, as if they belonged among the side dishes along with the baby vegetables.

There’s a model of a creme brulee at dessert time, creamy and with a real burnt caramel flavor in the crust. The Nest also makes its own gelati (best: white pistachio). When the Nest makes tirami su , the ladyfingers are mixed not only with mascarpone cheese and cream but, as the menu boasts, Bailey’s Irish Cream. Fittingly, it’s a downright cozy variation.

THE NEST OF OJAI

108 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. (805) 646-8111. Open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday, for dinner Tuesday through Sunday; Sunday brunch. Full bar. Parking lot. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $40 to $74.