RESTAURANTS : Some Fare Goes Heavy on the Lite

Retro Italian lite. That’s one way to describe the fare at the new Bella Teresa in Corona del Mar.

Maybe you remember this place when it was Matteo’s, a black-leather-and-red-sauce temple of old-style Italo-American cooking. Owners Mike and Teresa Jordan are the son and daughter-in-law of Matty (Matteo) Jordan, Los Angeles restaurateur and Sinatra pal. The couple had limited success with Matteo’s for several years, before deciding to retool its concept and rename it Bella Teresa. But one thing hasn’t changed: the song stylings of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, your constant companions while you dine.

As Matteo’s, the restaurant was dark, clubby and almost conspiratorial, all soft red lights, black tuxedos and slightly tarnished silver. Now the room is spruced up in crisp black and white: gleaming white walls, black-and-white check tablecloths, and, er, a few black leather banquettes retained for a little showy comfort.

What’s more, the Jordans have lightened many of Grandma Jordan’s original recipes, employing less garlic, olive oil and, occasionally, a smaller dose of the kitchen’s overpowering marinara sauce.

Now for the best news. Most complete dinners are under $12, a very attractive price point for most of us. That may explain why business has been booming. Teresa, who handles the podium, has begun a no-reservations policy.

I ate here several times when the restaurant was still called Matteo’s, and a few of the dishes served now recall the old days. Appetizers like toasted artichoke hearts and entrees like chicken Avellino haven’t really changed. The inclusion of a few “no oil” items on the new menu doesn’t mean that, in other cases, the chefs have gotten shy about saucing.

I’ve always enjoyed toasted artichoke hearts, but I admit that this dish is about as light as Toscanini’s temper. The hearts--four of them--come in a heavy flour breading. A thick lemon, butter, garlic and white wine sauce isn’t light, either--and that reliable quartet of ingredients can be found on numerous dishes on this menu.

One truly light appetizer is bruschetta, though, ironically, this is the one dish that would benefit from a touch of oil. You get a plate of toasted Italian bread with a dish of checca (diced tomato and sweet basil) in the center. The components are tasty, but it’s a strange bruschetta that doesn’t use olive oil--and a lot of it--to moisten the bread.

Antipasto Sorrento, which includes Mikey’s roasted green and red peppers, well-prepared marinated broccoli, assorted cheeses, cold cuts and imported olives, is a terrific deal for $6.95. There’s a comforting pasta e fagioli soup too: a big bowl of beans and shell pasta in a rich broth with a fine, homey flavor.

Go easy on the aforementioned items, though, if you plan to try one of the restaurant’s complete dinners, which include unlimited minestrone and an Italian salad with your pasta entree. The gutsy minestrone is loaded with cabbage, carrots and beans, while the salad adds cheese, salami and peppers to chopped greens.

Pastas, too, are huge, invariably sunk beneath a hearty, filling sauce. Rigatoni with braciole is a trencherman’s portion of the fat pasta tubes submerged in a spicy red sauce mixed with shredded, stuffed rolled beef. Home-style ravioli are even fatter pasta pillows filled with cheese and positively buried under a meaty red sauce.

The oddball pasta Teresa is linguine marinara tossed with garlic, Parmesan and crushed red chili, then sauteed in olive oil, as you might treat leftover pasta. For the pasta al pesto Ravello, the delicate house angel hair pasta is sauced with a light and subtle green sauce made from pine nuts, basil and Parmesan ground deftly together.

Stubbornly reminiscent of the earlier incarnation of this restaurant, meat courses are all a la carte. How about veal parmigiana, a big slab of breaded veal in red sauce, with a huge piece of cheese fused to the top? I pass. Or what about steak and peppers? The chefs cut up your steak as if you were a 6-year-old, then bury it under an avalanche of peppers, tomatoes and onion.

Shrimp scampi comes in the same sauce as the artichoke hearts, and the sauce works well with these fine poached shrimp. Chicken Avellino is a farmhouse dish bound to win you over. Who wouldn’t be happy with a half-roasted chicken with potatoes, garlic, parsley and onions, especially when the flavors fuse as well as these?

Save room for dessert only if the kitchen’s sensational homemade lemon custard ice cream is on hand. A lackluster rum chocolate cake the menu calls zuppa Inglese would be better without the aerosol whipped cream topping. There’s a tasty standard New York cheesecake, too.

Even though the food is still erratic, I had a good time at Bella Teresa, where the genial owners often visit tables to speak with great enthusiasm about family recipes. The familiar and soothing voices of Sinatra and Bennett don’t hurt, either.

Bella Teresa is moderately priced. Appetizers are $2.50 to $6.95. Pastas are $6.95 to $8.25 a la carte, $10.95 to $13.75 as complete dinners. Entrees are $9.50 to $16.95.

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