Make Yourself at Home at Friendly Vaso Azzurro
Good food, staff beckon diners to Mountain View

Ben Marks

URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/09/10/PN63215.DTL

Mountain View -- The opening of a new restaurant on Castro Street in Mountain View is hardly news. After all, the street is filled with places to eat. But Vaso Azzurro, an Italian and French spot near the train tracks, is well worth a mention, thanks to its better- than-average food, good service and comfortable room.

By comfortable, I don't mean funky and careworn. In fact, the decor is a bit stiff. The walls are relentlessly peach, the tile floors are predictably earth-toned and every table gets a blue vase.

Under each table hides a system of legs that is so overbuilt there's hardly room for your own. Up high, almost to the ceiling, perch shelves that are lined with different colored and shaped vases. (Yes, some of them are blue.) Below these hang a few abstract paintings and prints.

It's all a bit scattershot and yet it feels kind of homey, no doubt because you never feel rushed. At times it almost seems like the waiters are competing with each other to bring out your salad, take a dessert order and, above all, keep those water glasses full. Call it tag-team waiting, call it what you want; it's nice to eat at a place where the staff appears to be genuinely pleased by your presence.

GOOD STARTERS, SALADS

You'll be pleased you're there, too. Start with the mussels appetizer ($7.95). The dish looks skimpy -- a mere five specimens arranged around a small mound of greens. But the tomato, brandy and shallots sauce that bathes the large green mussels is delectable and rich. There's just enough.

Also good is the insalata trevisana ($6.95). The arugula, spinach, radicchio, baby pear tomatoes and Gorgonzola are nicely dressed in a light vinaigrette, which is only slightly spoiled by the caramelized walnuts -- too candylike for a salad.

At lunch, try the insalata di spinaci e pollo ($7.95), with tender pounded chicken breast sliced over a bed of spinach tossed with a light vinaigrette. The meat is tender enough to be cut with a fork and goes well with the Kalamata olives, tomatoes and red onions that round out the dish.

DINNER SPECIALS

For dinner, focus on the specials. Salmon Wellington ($18.95) features salmon and crab meat inside puff pastry, which is baked to order and topped with hollandaise. Wisely, no extraneous herbs or other seasonings get in the way of what is already a pretty potent combination of flavors.

On the side is a tepid arrangement of sauteed carrots, beans and bok choy. The roasted potatoes, on the other hand, are nice and hot, crunchy on the outside and soft within.

Risotto is also available as a special, although it is served in some form every night, while the salmon is not. The chicken and rock shrimp risotto ($13.95) also has sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms, all doused with a white wine and saffron sauce. Ironically for such a heavy dish, the flavors are light and the whole dish is balanced.

Even better is the agnello al rosmarino con spinaci ($16.95) -- three lamb medallions rolled around spinach and mozzarella cheese and crowned with sauteed slices of chanterelle mushrooms, flavored with a rosemary-garlic sauce.

If red meat is not your thing, seafood is your best option. The fettuccine Azzurro ($13.95) offers fresh pasta tossed with sauteed shrimps and bay scallops, as well as garlic and scallions in a saffron sauce. A half-dozen small black mussels and butter clams encircle the noodles.

If, however, you draw the line at seafood, don't expect a whole lot from the gratinada di vegetali misti ($10.95), which relies on too many sliced-and-quartered chunks of zucchini.

For dessert, the zabaglione over strawberries and blueberries ($4.50) is fine as far as it goes, but the sauce lacks that distinctive Marsala kick.

Torta di fromaggio (4.50) -- New York-style cheesecake with a light- and-fluffy consistency and a golden- brown crown -- is better. Order it plain or with irregular shavings of chocolate mixed into the batter. Either way, it's sitting pretty on a pool of strawberry sauce.

VASO AZZURRO

Dining Out appears three times a month in this section. Ben Marks, a former restaurateur, works at a Web site. Send comments to food@ sfgate.com.

						OVERALL:	     TWO AND A HALF STARS	
						   Food:	     TWO AND A HALF STARS	
						   Service:	     TWO AND A HALF STARS	
						   Atmosphere:       TWO STARS	
						.	
						   PRICES:	     $$	
						   NOISE RATING:     THREE BELLS	
						   PLUSES: Great service, good lamb and seafood, and tolerable prices.	 
						   MINUSES: The setting still feels a bit new and some dishes are 
						   one-dimensional or lack punch.
						

						RATINGS KEY	  
						   FOUR STARS:       Extraordinary	
						   THREE STARS:      Excellent	
						   TWO STARS:        Very good	
						   ONE STAR:         Good	
						   (box):            Fair	
						.	
						
						   $     Inexpensive:      entrees under $7	
						   $$    Moderate:         $7-$14	
						   $$$   Expensive:        $15-$20	
						   $$$$  Very Expensive:   $20+	
						
						When entrees fall between these categories, the prices of appetizers help 
						determine the dollar ratings.	 
						.	 
						  ONE BELL:       Pleasantly quiet (under 65 decibels)	
						  TWO BELLS:      Can talk easily (65-70)	
						  THREE BELLS:    Talking normally gets difficult (70-75)	
						  FOUR BELLS:     Can only talk in raised voices (75-80)	
						  BOMB:           Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)	
						.	
						Chronicle critics make every attempt to remain anonymous. All meals are paid 
						for by the Chronicle. Star ratings are based on a minimum of three visits.