Successful Terrazo Still Going Strong

----------------------------------------------------------------- Restaurant review

XXX Il Terrazzo Carmine, 411 First Ave. S. ($$$). Lunch ($7 to $12.50) 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner ($10 to $25) 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; until 10:45 p.m. Friday, Saturday. Lounge, full bar. Major credit cards. Smoking in bar only. Reservations: 467-7797. -----------------------------------------------------------------

"This is not a restaurant you just happen to drop into," Carmine Smeraldo said. "You have to intend to be here and know how to get here. I've had people from out of town call two hours after their reservation and say: `I'm sorry, we had good directions but we drove around and around and still couldn't find you.' "

Il Terrazzo Carmine, which celebrates its 12th anniversary this week, is one of Seattle's true dining anomalies - a highly successful restaurant with unfailingly high standards and a deeply loyal, sophisticated clientele - almost hidden from view.

Carmine's "terrace" is off an urban-renewed alley behind the 400 block of First Avenue South, with discreet entrances both in front and back. It began as a departure from what was then the southward invasion of one of the Northwest's most flamboyant entrepreneurs - Umberto Menghi (the original namesake of Umberto's) of Vancouver, B.C.

Menghi wanted into Seattle (and San Francisco) and brought Italian-Canadian Smeraldo south to open and run Umberto's in 1982. The restaurant was initially hugely successful (at one time it had three receptionists handling reservations).

A place of his own

After two years, local investors urged Naples-born Smeraldo to open a place of his own. The result has been an almost cult-like following, in both the bar and dining room: politicians, high-level cops, wine snobs, attorneys, architects, and just plain lovers of authentic multi-regional Italian food.

The antipasti bar ($5.50 a person) is arranged near the entry and is an irresistible place to start. Or try the Calamari a Modo Mio ($7.95 for two), impeccably tender pan-fried squid with tomato and garlic. A splendid Italian variation on locally ubiquitous crab cakes, Timballo Di Granchio ($11) is served under a lively salsa giardiniera. The carpaccio ($9), served with two large (but wafer-thin) slices of parmigiano-reggianno, is counterbalanced by wedges of artichoke hearts.

Salads ($4.75 to $5.75) range from bountiful and impressive to flat-out exquisite. A plate of wilted mixed greens, with braised pancetta and a tumble of succulent rock shrimp, tossed with a warm balsamic vinaigrette, was soul shaking.

Pastas ($9.50 to $12.50) are definitive and set a local standard. A daily special of pappardelle with chanterelles in a silky-brown veal sauce was dusted with a mantle of parmigiano-reggiano. The ultra-thin, freshly rolled ribbons of pasta luxuriated in a heady, but restrained, essence of viscous liquid mushroom.

One friend thought the evening's special risotto of prawns and lobster ($16) was a little too creamy, bordering on "mushy." I disagreed (I enjoy Italian rice al dente, but not grainy; this, I felt, was perfect) and the dramatic marriage of prime shellfish with broth and fresh-cracked black pepper was compelling.

Best in the city

Carmine's Cannelloni Fiorentina ($10.50), stuffed with spinach, ricotta and ground veal, is the best in the city. Served in a moat of red sauce (and without the customary cape of bechamel), the braised veal dominated the flavor mix; it was delicate but meaty and richly satisfying.

Osso Buco Milanese ($19.50) is made from lean, center-cut veal shanks (i.e.; you feel you can safely eat it all without consuming tendons) and accompanied by a typical Milan saffron-accented risotto, but a juxtaposed vegetable would be welcome and help dress the plate.

Rack of lamb ($25) is sometimes roasted with red bell peppers and a rosemary sauce, other times rubbed with a gremolata of lemon, garlic, parsley and thyme, and served quite rare, sliced and spread like a half-opened fan. It was fine, although others in the city are as good or better (Gerard's in Bothell, for one).

Il Terrazzo is unusual in its choice of breads. Two bakeries supply the house. The nearby Grand Central provides the lunch-time Como loaves. London's Bakehouse in Bellevue delivers the dinner loaves: thick, springy, wet-dough, round loaves very akin to the texture - but not the slipper shape - of an Italian ciabatta from the Lake Como area. Both are exemplary.

I have seldom had room for dessert. However, the house-made biscotti (with halves of hazelnuts embedded) are appealing, especially when dipped in a glass of dessert wine. (Copyright, 1996, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.)

John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.