If a summer cold or pesky allergy has got you in its grip, head for
Lino's Italian Cuisine, on Edwards Avenue in Huntington Beach. Let the
steamy aroma of their minestrone soup work its wonders. It's Mama's
recipe, the one owner Nicolino Radogna learned while helping in the
kitchen of the family's Chicago restaurant.
It was a long, eventful journey for the Radogna family from Bari,
Italy, to the United States in 1956. The family was aboard the Italian
luxury liner, the Andrea Doria, said Nick. The boat was fatally struck by
a Swedish steamer in the fog off Nantucket during its voyage.
Nearly 50 years later, Nick is in the kitchen of his own 17-table
restaurant, serving fresh, healthful pastas and pizzas in a bright
window-lined room where friendly greetings pass from table to table.
Our server, Michelle, brought the soups -- one a minestrone chock full
of fresh cauliflower, green and yellow squash, and broccoli. The other
was a pasta fagioli -- bean and pasta soup -- a little thick for my
taste, and it needed to be returned to the kitchen for further warming.
Lasagna (lunch $6.95, dinner $10.25), my entree, was sizzling hot with
thin pasta layers between ricotta cheese and covered with a rich
Bolognese sauce enhanced with wine and herbs. The pasta dishes go well
with the generous crisp, green salad drenched with home-style olive oil
and vinegar dressing.
Veal Scaloppine (a la carte $12.25, dinner $13.95) has six to eight
thin slices of veal dredged in flour and sauteed, then covered with a
tomato sauce, green peppers and slices of big mushrooms almost the size
of quarters. This sauce is milder and much less spicy than the spaghetti.
Nick learned well from his mother. Each dish has an authenticity that
is hard to duplicate, based on the "dash of this, pinch of that" school
of cooking.
Nick has added three new seafood dishes to the menu -- Sea Bass or
Salmon ($16.95 to $18.95) and Shrimp Gamberi ($16.95 to $18.95). The
shrimp dish is something -- a tangled pile of fettuccine with bits of
spinach and fresh, diced tomatoes surrounded by eight plump and firm
broiled tail-on shrimp -- a delicious dish with a faint whiff of garlic.
It is a good addition to the extensive menu.
If you're looking for a quick lunch, try the classic Submarine ($3.95
to $5.95) or a hot Italian sausage one (small $4.25, large $6.25). The
fat, grainy sausage is split on a toasted roll and covered with marinara
sauce.
Desserts are the frozen variety from Brother's Desserts. Spumoni
