Tire Of Shopping? Try Westlake Italian Eatery

Restaurant review

XX Tucci Benucch, Westlake Center, 400 Pine St. Third floor. ($$) Italian. Lunch and dinner (same menu: $5 to $17) 11:15 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; until 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday. Noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Lounge, full bar. Major credit cards. Handicapped accessible. No smoking. Reservations: 624-9000. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Tucci Benucch, named for two sisters who do not exist, decorated by thousands of blossoms that never lived, and masterminded by a national restaurant combine out of Chicago named Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc., is probably better than you'd expect.

There's a Disneyland quality to the contrived decor, a palpable unreality to the menu that suggests an excess of organizational kitch - but the kitchen behind the kitch is quite competent.

You can eat fairly well here, on the third floor of the Westlake Center (in the space first opened by the departed brew pub Noggin's).

What has been put together here is a limited-menu, midscale Italian endeavor that serves up reliable pizzas (with uncommonly thin, crisp crusts), pastas, salads, and excellent herb and garlic-roasted chicken. It's in a design motif that's hard to define. But festive - and festoon - persistently come to mind.

The dining rooms and outdoor balcony overlook Westlake Park.

One of the restaurant's managers is a Seattle culinary notable, Karl Beckley, who first drew local recognition with his trendsetting Green Lake Grill (now a satellite Duke's) more than a decade ago.

Excellent bread

Service starts off with a basket of excellent local Italian bread (the Como Loaf by Grand Central Bakery), a shallow bowl of extra virgin olive oil for dipping and a subtle hint from the waitress as to what you're expected to do with both.

Seven appetizers lead off the menu, from Ravioli Alfredo ($3.95) to a heaping bowl of Fried Calamari ($5.50) with marinara sauce.

Baby Artichokes ($4.95) are a kind of vegetarian response to escargot. Quartered sections of regular, processed hearts are combined with spinach, oven-dried tomatoes and garlic bread crumbs, then baked in indented escargot-styled platters.

"They're OK," said a friend. "Good, in fact. But I don't know what to do with them except spread them on bread."

Or you can split a small pizza ($6.95 to $8.95; the large pizzas go up to $14.95 for the Spicy Shrimp, with Peppers, Tomatoes and Mozzarella. The pizzas are unusual. They're not tossed and spun. Instead they are machine rolled to order, from a light, fluffy dough into a thin disc that is surely best measured in millimeters.

They have a crackerlike quality - but are good. And because they lack the heft of more filling breadlike pies, they serve well as starters.

A couple of must-try pizza suggestions: the Chicken, Red Peppers, Onion, with Alfredo sauce and Asiago cheese, spinach and fresh bacon ($8.50 for the small and $14.50 for the full-sized pie). And more simple, but very appealing, the Italian Sausage ($7.95 and $13.95) with spinach, tomato, Fontina, Provolone and Parmesan cheeses (for good measure, the staff will offer to grate additional Parmesan over the top when it arrives).

Tucci serves a half dozen salads ($3.25 to $8.50, depending upon size and complexity), including three Caesar salads - plain, with calamari or with grilled chicken.

The Venitto's House Salad arrives in a chilled bowl with romaine and iceberg lettuces and a bit of purple radichio for color, along with imported black olives, pepperoncini and some very hard croutons - with Italian or creamy garlic dressing. Assertive lasagna

Two kinds of lasagna are listed: "Old World" and "Russell's Special." I have no idea who Russell is, but his specialty involves fresh pasta strips, Italian sausage (Torino's), spinach, mushrooms, bechamel and marinara sauces, along with too much sharp cheese. This lasagna doesn't just lie there in passive layers. It's spice-assertive to the point of aggression.

Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs & Sausage ($8.50) are quite good. The meatballs are fragrant and spicy, with lots of parsley and chopped onion. The marinara tomato sauce is bright and fresh tasting with nice overtones of aromatic herbs, including, I guessed, the merest kiss of rosemary.

Two choices of Roast Garlic Chicken ($8.95 plain; $9.95 with grilled sausage and roasted peppers) are impressive - perfectly moist and tender. But the accompanying Tuscan potatoes were excessively oily.

Children will love this place. "Plates for Kids" is $3.95, with coloring book and crayons included. A good spot for a shopping break. (Copyright, 1993, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.) ------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo, makes visits to restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. When he interviews members of the restaurants' management and staff, he does so only after the meals and the services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.