RESTAURANT REVIEW : A New Dawn for Orlando at Glendale’s Revived Fresco

Almost two years ago, about a year after Antonio Orlando left Fresco to open his own restaurant in Pasadena, the popular Glendale restaurant closed its doors.

Meanwhile, Orlando’s Pasadena venture, the sprawling, moderately priced establishment bearing his name, served the best Italian food around. Then, last year, it closed too, proving again that good cooking alone does not guarantee success in the restaurant business--at least not in Pasadena, where certain Italian kitchens of stunning mediocrity often require an hour’s wait for a table.

And so, Antonio Orlando moved back to Fresco, which stood empty after its closure, waiting perhaps. It’s almost as if he never left. There are the same textured stuccoed walls and pillars, the same fake ivy framing the skylight, the same pink glow emanating from the bar, the same well-heeled clientele. New faces are seen among the all-male service staff, but everyone is as gracious and attentive as ever.

The Fresco routine is also intact: After being seated, you’re brought drinks and bread and after a while--when you’ve finally settled down, relaxed, eaten a small, puffed-up focaccia fresh from the oven with a spread of ground eggplant and sun-dried tomato--the waiter brings you a menu and tells you about the night’s specials.

The most notable changes at the reopened Fresco are found on the menu: The food is simpler and the prices are lower.

Orlando can get away with the lower prices without rebuke, but his loyal clientele clamors for some of the old favorites: the corn crepes stuffed with duck, the lamb risotto, the stuffed quail. That’s why Orlando offers four or five nightly specials at the old familiar Fresco prices. If you don’t want to spend $20 for an entree, you can always order off the menu.

I ordered on and off the menu in several recent visits and found, if anything, that the portions are larger and the cooking is as good as ever, with one minor caveat: A few dishes were notably salty, even for this salt hound. Otherwise, the quality and care in preparation are exactly what I’ve come to expect from Orlando’s kitchen.

Salads are lively and juicy. Perfect Caesars are made for two at the table without undue ceremony. Also particularly good is the house salad, with fresh mixed greens, celery and capers.

Tiny, plump cherrystone clams come in a wonderful, garlic-rich tomatoey broth that cries to be soaked up, first with tiny garlic toasts, then with good discs of house bread.

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Pastas and risottos come in two sizes--I’d say an appetizer size and an entree size, except that the so-called appetizer size will do as a main course for all but the most voracious eaters. The maitre d’ explains, however, that Italians are used to eating enormous portions of risotto, and for them, there is the so-called entree size, also called the abbondante or abundant portion. Once one has tasted the risotto with asparagus, chewy veal and insanely smooth, plump porcini mushrooms, one understands the abbondante portion--it would be mad not to eat as much as possible of this dish--even given its high salt content.

Orlando’s “Fettuccine Tre P” (pasta with prosciutto, porcini and peas), a favorite of mine from Orlando’s Pasadena venture, is disappointing one night, however: the pasta slightly overcooked, the cream sauce gummy, the peas starchy, the porcini somehow lacking their superb suppleness.

Seafood is exceptionally good, from special black ravioli stuffed with scallops in saffron sauce to beautifully grilled prawns and sea scallops on a bed of arugula with a sauce of lime, butter and wine.

Veal scaloppine is served a piacere --as you like, with either mushrooms and marsala or with lemon. I chose the lemon sauce, which at first seemed strong--almost too lemony--but then the intensity became a pleasure. The green peppercorn reduction sauce on a lovely rack of lamb is one of the saltier items.

Desserts are all homemade, including terrific ice creams. (The cantaloupe ice cream practically made me swoon.) The chocolate meringue-mousse is another intense experience you learn, bite by bite, to crave. The raspberry tart is so freshly assembled the custard is still warm. There’s no doubt about it: Orlando is a sensualist. His food instructs his customers’ desires. Before you know it, you’re helpless: Nothing builds up an appetite for Fresco like eating there.

* Fresco, 514 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 247-5541. Lunch Monday-Friday, dinner Monday-Saturday. Full bar. Valet parking. Reservations advised. American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $32 - $66.