Italian Has Pleased Princesses; Now US

Chef/owner: Rino Baglio.

Where: il Bacio, an Italian restaurant at 16564 Cleveland St., Redmond; 206-869-8815. Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday; and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The real thing: Real northern-Italian food, that is. Baglio strives to serve this at the often-praised eatery he and his wife, Patsy, own. "People think Italian food is spaghetti and meatballs or veal Parmesan," but it's far more than that, he says. In fact, in Italy meatballs are usually served as a separate entree, not as part of a spaghetti dish.

Seafood savvy: That's Baglio. He buys most of his seafood directly from Alaska suppliers and drives to the airport once a week at 4 or 5 a.m. to pick up halibut, shrimp, salmon and other seafood straight off the plane.

Truffles: They're no trifling matter. Baglio imports the prized fungi, both black ones and the extra-costly white ones ($750 a pound), directly from Italy. They're thinly shaved, in front of the customer, and served in such creations as veal medallions with Cremona mustard and white truffles in a white-wine sauce.

Chef to a princess: Baglio was this for about a year in the mid-'80s, when he cooked for Princess Caroline of Monaco and her husband, Stefano Casiraghi, who has since died. Sometimes with just a day or two's notice, he'd be off with her entourage to New York, Hong Kong, Paris or the like. They'd set up camp in a luxury-hotel suite with a kitchen, where Baglio would do the cooking.

A simple woman: That was Princess Caroline at home, out of the limelight, says Baglio. Her favorite foods weren't particularly simple, though. Among them: angel-hair pasta with lobster and caviar.

How did he get that job? He was head chef at a Monte Carlo restaurant frequented by Monaco's royal family. Casiraghi was from Como, Italy, near Baglio's hometown, which gave him an in.

Another princess: That was the late Diana, whom Baglio met six or seven times. He was one of a team of chefs who cooked for the wedding of Diana and Charles in 1982.

Small-town kid: This was Baglio, growing up in a small northern Italian town. His father, a musician and music teacher, filled the house with music and taught young Rino to play the piano, which he still does. Everyone in the household would stop to listen when his father played, a pleasant memory. Yet there was pressure, too, because his father wished Rino to follow in his musical footsteps. But Rino made another choice.

Cookin' kid: Because his mother was often ill, Baglio began doing much of the family cooking when he was only 10, and loved it. At 11, he began working at a large hotel kitchen. At 14, he enrolled at a culinary institute, and the hotel paid the bill. Cooking professionally while attending school, he achieved certified master-chef status at the exceptionally young age of 23.

World chef: After culinary school, Baglio hopped around Europe, Canada and the U.S., cooking or consulting at major restaurants, besides working for Princess Caroline. A few years ago, after a stint in Detroit, he decided to return to Italy, stopping to visit friends in San Francisco and Seattle. He never left here. He started consulting at a Kirkland restaurant, where he met his wife. Three years ago, they opened il Bacio; she's the floor manager.

Successful togetherness: Keep work talk at work, personal talk at home. That's how the Baglios happily survive working and living together, says Rino, 43. Hobbies may help, too. His is soccer, which he plays in an over-40 league.

Homecoming: Baglio will soon return to northern Italy for a brief stint as guest chef at the Istituto Amerigo Vespucci, the culinary school he attended years ago. Recipe, below.

------------------- Crostini alle Olive ------------------- Serves 6

1/2 cup black olives, pitted

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

6 slices firm, country-style Italian bread

10 ounces fresh wild mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Combine olives and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor and puree. Set aside.

2. Lay the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated 350-degree oven until golden. Set aside.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy skillet over high heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic; fry about 5 minutes or until just tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the clove of garlic.

4. Spread the toast with the olive puree, top with the mushrooms and serve.

From Chef/owner Rino Baglio of il Bacio restaurant.