Return engagement: After a three-year absence, Gambardella's Italian restaurant is back in business in Menlo Park Return engagement: After a three-year absence, Gambardella's Italian restaurant is back in business in Menlo Park (January 07, 2004)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyle Editor

The garlic braids and wall of empty wine bottles are gone, but Gambardella's restaurant is back in town, still serving the Southern Italian food patrons loved when it first opened 16 years ago in downtown Menlo Park.

After operating his restaurant for three years in Burlingame, Andy Gambardella is glad to be back. (He says his Menlo Park customers have more adventurous palates and are more interested in wine.)

His new digs are a marked contrast from the funky little building where his first restaurant opened in 1988. Gambardella's is now located in ground-floor commercial space at Menlo Square, in 2,300 square feet of space with seating for 68. There will also be outdoor seating on the spacious front porch that surrounds the restaurant. Built-in heaters will keep diners comfortable on cool nights.

The restaurant, which opened a few weeks ago, was busy at lunch during a recent visit. Mr. Gambardella says many of his old-time customers are returning. "They kept asking when we were going to open."

While Pasta a la Scoglio -- pasta in a white wine and fresh tomato sauce topped with mussels, prawns and calamari, a dish the Almanac raved about 15 years ago -- is no longer on the menu, there are plenty of appetizing choices.

As soon as Almanac photographer Carol Ivie and I sat down for lunch last month, a basket of warm focaccia and a pot of red pepper tapenade arrived as we studied the menu. We ordered spinach salad with gorgonzola, bacon, fried apples and spiced walnuts, which was far more delicious than it sounds and large enough for two. I particularly liked the citrus vinagrette that tasted of fresh oranges.

For an entree, Carol ordered Linguine Rivello ($15.95), linguine with prawns, smoked pancetta, cannellini beans, sage, garlic and olive oil. There were lots of plump prawns, but the dish could have been more assertive.

I fared better with Vitello con Pepperoni e Polenta ($16.95), sauteed veal and peppers with marsala cream sauce. The veal slices were thin and tender with freshly roasted red peppers in a creamy wine sauce. The dish was accompanied by crunchy baked-then-fried triangles of polenta.

There were many pasta dishes, including: penne and eggplant in tomato sauce with ricotta cheese; penne with fennel sausage, peppers and cream sauce; fusilli with sliced chicken breast, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes olives, garlic and olive oil; and gnocchi in a gorgonzola and tomato sauce. Pasta selections at lunch are priced from $9.95 to $15.95.

Secondi piatti (second plates) range from chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes, porcini mushrooms, olives and polenta; to veal scallopine with shitake mushrooms. (In Italy, you are expected to order two plates: first, usually a pasta, then an entree, at a ristorante .) At lunch, entrees were priced from $11.95 to $16.95.

Salad selections included: Sicilian salad with sliced oranges and apples; classic Caesar; and roasted shitake mushrooms with ricotta, baby greens, lemon and walnut oil.

Gambardella's wood-burning oven turns out thin-crusted pizzas, as well as fish and meats. A nearby diner was served a spinach calzone from the oven (filled with fresh spinach, ricotta, olives and mozzarella) that could have fed three hungry people.

Portions are large. Every woman leaving the restaurant (including me) was carrying a "doggie bag."

We didn't have time for dessert, but our server, Victor, said the most popular choice is apple pizza, prepared in the wood-burning oven, and served with a scoop of gelato -- apple pie, Sicilian style.

Proprietor Andy Gambardella makes all the desserts on the premises. Other favorites are chocolate souffle cake, tiramisu, and fresh strawberries with chantilly cream.

The restaurant's decor of stone walls, lots of glass, beamed ceilings and hardwood floors is handsome, but austere. Even sporting Christmas decorations, it seemed rather cold. Perhaps vases of flowers, colored napkins, or candles would warm up the expanse of white tablecloths. Because most of the walls are stone or glass, there's very little space to hang pictures. Having tables outside in nice weather should soften the look.

There's nothing cold about the service at Gambardella's, however. Andy Gambardella is a hands-on proprietor. "If we're open, I'm here," he says. Many on his staff have been with him for years. Victor said his brother had been a waiter at Gambardella's for 12 years.

Gambardella's is one of three restaurants that will be located at Menlo Square. Lisa's Tea Treasures, a tea shop formerly located on Merrill Street, opened just in time for the holidays. A French creperie, is slated to open soon.

It's a good sign both Gambardella's and Lisa's wanted to return to Menlo Park. With the opening of high-end Marche, Oak City Bar and Grill, Trellis, and Bluewater Grill, along with such well-established restaurants as Carpaccio, Dal Baffo, Left Bank, and Flea Street Cafe, Menlo Park continues to offer diners a great choice for fine eating.

Gambardellas's Italian restaurant is located at 1165 Merrill St., Menlo Park, in the new Menlo Square development. It is open for lunch Monday through Friday, and for dinner nightly. Call 323-6730.

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