RESTAURANT REVIEW : Unfulfilled Promises at Cucina

Can a restaurant be judged by the art it displays?

This question came to mind recently in Pasadena’s Old Town when I was visiting Amedeo Cucina. In a former incarnation the place was the Italian Fisherman. A year ago, Amedeo Costantino, the Fisherman’s owner, closed down his clubby, pricey restaurant, gutted the place and reopened as this upscale yet more casual cucina.

It looks and feels like a corporate exercise in trendiness. There’s an open kitchen. There’s ceiling truss. There are pasta and pizza, risotto and radicchio, carpaccio, too. And there’s original art displayed.

I had ample time to study the art one night both before and after the orders were taken at my table. When we sat down, we’d been given two pretty and tasty crostini , crisp little toasts topped with chopped tomato and basil, and we ate them right away. Our hunger piqued, we diverted ourselves at first by looking around at the other diners, and then at the mid-sized paintings hung about the room. In their favor, the paintings were unpretentious and earnestly executed. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to recommend the work. “Let’s hope the food’s better than the art,” my friend said as we waited . . . and waited.

For a while it seemed that we would never get to judge the food. Eventually, a waiter spoke crossly to a busperson and we received some warm, crusty bread for dipping into some herbed olive oil. When, finally, our appetizers arrived, I was happy to see my friend happily eating his grilled eggplant with cheese, which was peppery and tasty.

My salad, however, confused me. I’d ordered mixed field greens and was expecting the sort of lettuces most other restaurants serve when a field is advertised as the source of the greens--things like mesclun, lambs quarters, chicory, dandelion, or some exotic mint. But this salad was made of iceberg and romaine, exactly the kind of salad found in a coffee shop, complete with grated carrot and shredded red cabbage. Thinking there had been a mistake, I told the waiter. “I had the field greens salad. Unless I’m mistaken, these aren’t field greens.”

“You’re right,” he said. A good five minutes later, another salad arrived and it looked exactly like the first salad, only fluffed up a bit. I said no more.

It turns out that the food and service at Amedeo’s is very much like its art: aspirations are very grand, but they generally far exceed results. A waiter, for example, very professionally takes our orders without notes, and then, the wrong food arrives. And the menu makes promises that are rarely realized. The gnocchi al pesto turns out to be gluey dumplings in a pool of a thick, rich cheesy cream sauce flecked with basil. The tirami su is 90% coffee-drizzled ladyfingers bound together with the scantest amount of mascarpone cheese. One night’s expensive special, described as extra-large Hawaiian scampi, was actually pretty skimpy. Once we got the shrimp out of their sizable shells, there was hardly any meat. What’s worse, the shrimp was dry and burnt-tasting. Another time, we’re told that the kitchen ran out of the T-bone for the Mini Steak alla Fiorentina--will a New York do? Fine, but the New York is overcooked, tasteless and so tough it seem impossible that the meat was marinated as promised on the menu.

If you happen to find yourself eating at Amedeo Cucina, it may be helpful to know that the rotisserie-cooked chicken is passable. And while the Italian sausage with roasted peppers may not come on a “bed” of polenta as promised, it’s good and the meager little squares of fried polenta on the side are quite nice too.

Between the paintings on the wall and the food on the plate, there’s a lack of discernment at work in Amedeo Cucina. After all, radicchio, open kitchens and original art are no substitute for inspired cooking, considerate service and prices commensurate with the quality of the meal.

Amedeo Cucina, 35 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. (818) 792-2236. Open for lunch Monday through Friday; dinner seven days. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards. Full bar. Dinner for two, food only, $30 to $70.