Allegria Café and Pizzeria

                       An Oasis 

In the Culinary Swamp Of Malibu   

By now, most of us have figured out that better restaurants seem to say “Show me the money”.  Thus, in most major cities, you find the  desirable dining in the high rent district.  Greenwich Village certainly has great food and great fun, but in New York, very serious dining is found on the upper East Side around Central Park.  Chicago has its Halsted Street, but it is the Upper North Suburbs or the cluster near the lake off North Michigan Avenue that attracts the serious foodies. Los Angeles is obviously more spread out so its serious dining district runs from Highland Avenue in West Hollywood (the latest Mario Batali venture is on the corner of Melrose) 12 miles west to the city of Santa Monica and the ocean.   

Crazily, the  choice for that secondary serious So-Cal suburban sensory satisfaction is our very own Conejo Valley. It now has more than a dozen superior dining choices that cover the entire gamut of lips, tongue and palate pleasing ecstasy. Think Japanese-Sushi, Italian, Steak, Thai, French, Mediterranean, Seafood, California Fusion and fairly good Mexican and Chinese.

They are all here in a few mile radius, clearly validating the now hot demographics that  have attracted  national hospitality and culinary interests That interest  is clearly evidenced by the addition lately of Mastro’s and The Four Seasons-Wellness Center both of whom  until recently would not be caught dead in any areas other than Beverly Hills or Scottsdale.

So what happened to that place in between The Westside and the Conejo known as Malibu? It has some of the most expensive real estate in the world and yet it is essentially a culinary wasteland. From Topanga Blvd north on the 101 to Zuma is a collection of  mediocre generally ocean-side restaurants. They are either super trendy, “hot- overpriced", over the hill, and  in at least two cases serious tourist traps with bad food and arrogant service. They all live off the aura of "Malibu”,  the seals, the pelicans and the waves and not much else.

The two best known and serious restaurants in Malibu for many years,  Puck’s Granita and Alice’s Restaurant have sadly folded their tents. No one seemed able to explain Wolfies usually  rational decision making.   Many of the uninformed  now think the best overall restaurant in town is Googies. It’s a deli ????.  They are wrong. See photo above.

Oh yeah, Matsuhisa’s absentee owned Nobu does offer fine food but it essentially serves overpriced California Rolls to the pseudo sushi eating tourists. They think it is “hot”, to be able to spend $150 per person for Japanese food brought to the them in Malibu by some Britney look-alike surfer chick who can’t operate a pair of chopsticks or add up a bill.  

In an aside, there are at least three Sushi bars in the Conejo that are fairly priced and owner operated by “authentic” ethnic Japanese. They deliver true Ngiri sushi in a legitimate atmosphere that makes you think you are in The Ginza rather than Denny’s or Hooter’s.  Check them out.

But then there is  Allegria, sadly often missed as it unpretentiously nestles on the less glamorous east side of the 101 just south of the Malibu pier. In spite of that it is usually filled by insiders daily..... for both lunch and dinner.......because it is, at every level,  one of the  few  truly “authentic” casual Italian restaurants I have found outside of Italy.

On many occasions, you are greeted at the door by Fabio Searbossa. He was born in Rome but raised in Milan, the heartbeat of fine Italian cuisine. He improved his English and his serving skills with many years at Il Balcone, a low key but well known and very popular tratorria in Encino. It continues to have a very strong following of discerning Italian food lovers.  Searbossa has been at Allegria for years as are most  of all the other mature and very competent servers.

The room is rather low key as a long run of booths with windows  look out on the highway .....   just  to remind you that you are still in California. There are also tables  in the middle of the room.

The menu, however, will quickly take you back to Italy.  There are 13 serious Insalate and antipasti ranging from a simple Insalata Mista to Carpaccio La Fenice, Calamari Foggati and Prosciuto e Mozzarella. They are priced from $7.95 to $12,95. Portions are large and can be split.

There are at least 12 pastas on the menu plus specials. My wife had a dish she had never had before, Papparadelle with Boar Ragu. It was wonderful with perfectly cooked home made noodles.  On another occasion I had a tasting  sample portion of linguine with sea urchin. Another first. There is home made Lobster Ravioli and the rarely offered but wonderful Tortelloni Di Zucca, (Pumpkin Ravioli) Pastas range from $13.95 to 19.95. Portions are generous

In every dish, the flavors are precise,  powerful , positive and passionate.  That is what Italian food is all about. You will understand that if you meet the personable chef. Paolo Sicuro was born in Lecce but grew up in Rome. He honed his culinary muscles at Prego in Beverly Hills and now clearly has his very firm hands on the Allegria kitchen. Paolo has serious culinary chops.

We finished off one  meal with 3 different scoops of true Gelato. Perfetto.

Allegria’s Pizza is even another story. There are 22 on the menu and after you taste the first one you might want to eventually try all of them. You see they are the classic thin crust pizzas of Naples. That is where authentic pizza began. Not in Chicago or Hoboken.

This thin crust is remarkable and topped with a light layer of real mozzarella cheese. One topping we chose was Prosciutto and Funghi, which is Black Forest ham and mushrooms. It was the most satisfying pizza we had tasted since we first had this type of Pizza in Sorrento just south of Naples. Dinner Pizzas are oversized and easily feed two for prices from $13 to $17.

There is a pleasant selection of fairly priced wines with emphasis on Italy.

The restaurant runs so smoothly at all levels that it seems like a cinch but obviously there is much more to the story than that. It turns out that Allegria has some heavy duty genes.

However I found it hard to believe that he could successfully manage at  all of the above. He then told me that he spent most of  his time at Allegria.. He lives in Malibu. That made more sense.

If I seem overly enthusiastic, it is true.  Simplicio and Sicuro  bring that elusive “authenticity” to Allegria. It is a very remarkable  quality in today’s franchised, chained, cookie cutter pseudo ethnic dining industry. I can’t wait to go back because this  unusual trait is very rare in the present superficial world of dining out.  It exists in about 5% of al the restaurants in the country.

Just think about what you see....every day.

There are all those Chinese restaurants that do not employ even a  single Chinese person!!!. That chef (???) working the wok may have seen his first pan two weeks ago or  perhaps scooped at the dreaded steam tables at a Panda Express.

Half the sushi bars in Southern California are now operated by non-Japanese Asians whose skills begin and end with a California or Ventura roll.  They may have trained making sushi for the supermarkets. That’s why their sushi has no flavor and tastes like eating  cardboard, overpriced at $5 a dozen at Pavilions.   

How many Italians do you think are working the stoves at the dreaded Buca di Beppo, Olive Garden or Sisley or flipping dough at  Domino’s, Shakey's,  Pizza Hut or Papa Johns?  I'm very safely guessing...... Zero.... nationwide!!!!!!!!.   I’m also betting these  guys working at all  these pseudo Italian joints don’t even know in which country  Naples is located.  You also can be sure they won't come close to spelling"authentic"