MARY FURR -- Dining Out

Some people are easily recognized by a single name like Garbo or

Madonna. Capone is one of those whose name conjures legends of 1925

Chicago, where life was in the fast lane and restaurants offered great

Italian food like the authentic dishes found at Capone’s Pasta & Pizza on

Beach Boulevard and Utica Street in Newland Center, Huntington Beach

It’s a minimalist place with dark red wood tables, ladder-back chairs,

a banquette along one wall and a great wood-burning oven behind a used

brick counter with tall stools. From the stools, you can watch owner and

chef Dino Ferraro cooking up a storm of sauces, pasta and pizza.

From nearly a dozen appetizers, we chose brushetta with shrimp

($5.95), four oblong pieces of Italian bread covered with thick green

pesto, crushed basil, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil topped with tail-on

shrimp. The contrast of crunchy bread with the freshness of the shellfish

was good, but perhaps a little more olive oil could have been used.

If you want to eat and do business or take lunch on the run, you can

do it here. Chicken picatta (lunch $6.25, dinner $11.95) has chicken

pieces sauteed with artichoke hearts in a lemon caper sauce. It’s piquant

and zesty, without the usual tomato, served over a choice of pasta.

Capelli d’angelo, slender angel hair, worked well with the sauce, light

with plenty of pasta surface to cling to.

The excellent sauce is also served with veal (lunch $8.95, dinner

$11.95) -- a large cut goes well with spaghetti, a thicker pasta more

typical of Italian cuisine -- a good dinner selection.

Another favorite is ravioli con spinachi (lunch $6.25, dinner $12.95),

which can be dressed up in various ways. Here there are jumbo ricotta and

goat cheese-filled pasta pockets with the spinach in the sauce instead of

in the ravioli. Diced tomato, mushrooms and carrots also flavor the light

white sauce. Served in a hot shallow dish, it is excellent. There’s no

need for the pepper mill offered by the pleasant and watchful server,

Josh Martinez.

Entrees include an excellent dinner salad of mixed greens, diced

tomato, carrot, celery, black olive and pepperoncini. The salad comes

with an olive oil and wine vinegar dressing, homemade like everything

else here, including the soft twisted hot rolls that are served instead

of bread sticks. Chef Dino says they’re silly and not bread at all.

If you’re ready to die and go to dessert heaven, order the tiramisu

($4.50) -- two layers of cake soaked in espresso and Kahlua, powdered

with cocoa and served in a dark pool that is the very essence of

chocolate.

Lunch offers five sandwich varieties ($6.50). One was made of sausage,

green pepper, onions and tomato sauce and had a top crust sprinkled with

cheese, resembling a turnover -- almost like a calzone.

What’s Italian without pizza? At Capone’s, the crust is thin and crisp

-- Chef Dino says he loves the sound of the crust as he cuts the pizza

when it’s just out of the wood-burning oven. Small (6 slices) of Capone’s

special ($8.95) is mildly spicy with the crisp, barely cooked onions and

bell peppers and the works -- ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, smoked bacon

with garlic, olive oil and fresh basil. There are also white and green

pizzas, Hawaiian, Thai and Greek, smoked salmon and vegetarian. Your

choice.

Dino says he bases his menu on Sicilian family recipes refined by his

training at the Boston Culinary School. He’s worked in restaurants since

he was 14, so add experience to his qualifications.

Now if he’d just bring in some potted plants and get a tape of

Chicago-style jazz to replace the modern stuff, he’d warm my interior

decorator’s heart.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments

or suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.

FYI

Capone’s Pasta and Pizza

WHERE: 19688 Beach Blvd. Near Utica Street in Newland Center,

Huntington Beach.

HOURS: Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday

till 10 p.m., and Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m.

CALL: 593-2888

MISCELLANEOUS: Credit cards accepted.