Dining Review
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A Genuine Institution
Tustin's Roma D'Italia is a grand Italian dinner house of the old school.
By Patrick MottPublished: August 07, 2003
Roma D'Italia is one of a very small handful of restaurants in Orange County that have become genuine institutions: durable, indestructible icons of beloved consistency and familiarity.
Located since 1961 on El Camino Real in what is now known as Old Towne Tustin, the restaurant (owned and operated from the beginning by the Corea family) is a testament to the success of comfort food, Italian style. This is not a trendy here-today-gone-tomorrow experiment in pricey twigs, designer pastas and precise presentation, but rather a noisy, broad-shouldered sort of place with red-and-white checked tablecloths, robust shouts coming from the kitchen, and generous plates of tasty, no-nonsense food that won't require a second mortgage on your house.
Think Orange County has gotten a little too hip for such a place? Then put your name in with the hostess, take a seat on the front patio wall and settle in to wait for a table with the rest of the crowd. Because on quite a few evenings and weekends, that's what you may be in for. Regulars have been coming to Roma D'Italia for years-even generations. They gladly cool their heels on the patio in return for the promise of a table somewhere in the happy din inside.
This is an Italian dinner house of the old school. There are 28 separate pasta entrees listed-and that doesn't count the section of the menu that offers build-your-own pasta selections featuring seven different pasta shapes that can be married with nine different sauces and accompaniments. There are also 15 seafood entrees, 10 chicken main dishes, six veal offerings.
On these extensive lists are many old favorites, and a few creative notables such as chicken D'Italia- boneless chicken breast baked with eggplant, ham, sliced tomatoes and provolone and topped with mushrooms in a cream wine sauce. There's also a fine fusilli with sausage and green peppers, Calabrese style (with meat sauce). And for larger appetites there is the generous cioppino, the most expensive item on the menu at $21.95.
One can eat well here for not much money; the pastas top out at $11.95, most of the seafood and veal is in the $15 range, and the chicken entrees hover around $12.
And there is pizza, New York style (something of a rarity in Orange County). A large 14-inch pie with two or three toppings will set you back a modest $14-$15.
A handful of specialty dishes have become favorites with regulars over the years. There are three bread appetizers, for instance - pizza bread, sausage bread and pepperoni bread - that make wonderful starters. The pepperoni bread I ordered was stuffed with pepperoni, Romano and mozzarella cheeses, glazed with butter and garlic and served with meat sauce on the side. It might be thought of as pizza in another form, but it works beautifully as an appetizer-zesty and satisfying.
There is a short list of house specialties, and the eggplant Sorrentino beckoned this time. It's baked rolls of eggplant stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, Romano cheese and herbs and generously topped with meat sauce. All the distinctive flavors emerged from a dish that was abundant yet light. The high flavor of the eggplant itself was allowed to dominate, as it should. This is a deceptively delicate dish. One mild disappointment: according to the menu, the dish should have come with a side of mostaccioli with meat sauce. It came with angel hair pasta in a very light garlic sauce-tasty enough, but when you're primed for mostaccioli...
Try the canoli for dessert. Don't let any experience you might have had with heavier cannolis deter you here-this one is rich enough to satisfy the sweet tooth, thick enough to please the palate and, as a fine surprise, light enough to bring your meal to a satisfying but not too filling conclusion.
Roma D'Italia is not a family style restaurant in the same tradition as those in San Francisco, where strangers sit together at the same table and pass big plates of food to each other, but it has that same marvelous atmosphere: unbuttoned, unfettered, unapologetically robust. That, and good, honest food, may take it through another 42 years.
Roma D'Italia, 611 El Camino Real, Tustin. 714-544-0273.
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Located since 1961 on El Camino Real in what is now known as Old Towne Tustin, the restaurant (owned and operated from the beginning by the Corea family) is a testament to the success of comfort food, Italian style. This is not a trendy here-today-gone-tomorrow experiment in pricey twigs, designer pastas and precise presentation, but rather a noisy, broad-shouldered sort of place with red-and-white checked tablecloths, robust shouts coming from the kitchen, and generous plates of tasty, no-nonsense food that won't require a second mortgage on your house. Think Orange County has gotten a little too hip for such a place? Then put your name in with the hostess, take a seat on the front patio wall and settle in to wait for a table with the rest of the crowd. Because on quite a few evenings and weekends, that's what you may be in for. Regulars have been coming to Roma D'Italia for years-even generations. They gladly cool their heels on the patio in return for the promise of a table somewhere in the happy din inside. This is an Italian dinner house of the old school. There are 28 separate pasta entrees listed-and that doesn't count the section of the menu that offers build-your-own pasta selections featuring seven different pasta shapes that can be married with nine different sauces and accompaniments. There are also 15 seafood entrees, 10 chicken main dishes, six veal offerings. On these extensive lists are many old favorites, and a few creative notables such as chicken D'Italia- boneless chicken breast baked with eggplant, ham, sliced tomatoes and provolone and topped with mushrooms in a cream wine sauce. There's also a fine fusilli with sausage and green peppers, Calabrese style (with meat sauce). And for larger appetites there is the generous cioppino, the most expensive item on the menu at $21.95. One can eat well here for not much money; the pastas top out at $11.95, most of the seafood and veal is in the $15 range, and the chicken entrees hover around $12. And there is pizza, New York style (something of a rarity in Orange County). A large 14-inch pie with two or three toppings will set you back a modest $14-$15. A handful of specialty dishes have become favorites with regulars over the years. There are three bread appetizers, for instance - pizza bread, sausage bread and pepperoni bread - that make wonderful starters. The pepperoni bread I ordered was stuffed with pepperoni, Romano and mozzarella cheeses, glazed with butter and garlic and served with meat sauce on the side. It might be thought of as pizza in another form, but it works beautifully as an appetizer-zesty and satisfying. There is a short list of house specialties, and the eggplant Sorrentino beckoned this time. It's baked rolls of eggplant stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, Romano cheese and herbs and generously topped with meat sauce. All the distinctive flavors emerged from a dish that was abundant yet light. The high flavor of the eggplant itself was allowed to dominate, as it should. This is a deceptively delicate dish. One mild disappointment: according to the menu, the dish should have come with a side of mostaccioli with meat sauce. It came with angel hair pasta in a very light garlic sauce-tasty enough, but when you're primed for mostaccioli... Try the canoli for dessert. Don't let any experience you might have had with heavier cannolis deter you here-this one is rich enough to satisfy the sweet tooth, thick enough to please the palate and, as a fine surprise, light enough to bring your meal to a satisfying but not too filling conclusion. Roma D'Italia is not a family style restaurant in the same tradition as those in San Francisco, where strangers sit together at the same table and pass big plates of food to each other, but it has that same marvelous atmosphere: unbuttoned, unfettered, unapologetically robust. That, and good, honest food, may take it through another 42 years. Roma D'Italia, 611 El Camino Real, Tustin. 714-544-0273. |
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