OC LIVE! : RESTAURANTS : Borrelli and Genovese: Only Language Is Same

Ristorantes Borrelli and Genovese, in Fountain Valley and Tustin respectively, are very different places to dine. One is brand-new and trying hard to please; the other is a veteran, established, easygoing and stubbornly charming. They’re both--inevitably, these days--Italian.

Chef Carlo Borrelli is a native of Ischia, a pittoresco island near Naples. He owned and operated a restaurant in Rancho Palos Verdes for nearly two decades before moving to this Fountain Valley location, formerly the Mexican restaurant El Colima, in July.

Whether or not its menu is your cup of minestrone, Ristorante Borrelli is a comfortable place. The room is spacious, ideal for both private trysts and public gatherings. Tables are set wide apart, and lighting is soft. If you don’t choose a booth, you will probably luxuriate in one of the high-backed, well-padded banquet chairs, which would not be out of place in an English manor house.

With dinner, Borrelli’s serves a complimentary antipasto of grilled eggplant, marinated white cannellini beans, roasted red and yellow peppers, rolled prosciutto and thin-sliced Genoa salami. Did I leave something out? Oh yes, a basket of hot garlic bread.

The ambitious menu is extensive and plates are stocked with enough food for a small crowd. Take stuzzichini caldi , billed as a partial selection of appetizers. Dinner will be an afterthought if you tackle the stuzzichini without help. Bacon-topped clams casino, crisp fried calamari tentacles, whitefish in spicy red sauce, fried mozzarella, shrimp and mushrooms come crowded together on a large platter. Degli innamorati is a more sensible beginning; baby greens, prosciutto, artichoke, olives and cheese drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Borrelli is a skilled chef, but a few of his specialties could be lightened. Picchio e pacchio is what he calls his veal and shrimp combination. The rich saute of veal in sherry, mushrooms and capers deserves a simple accompaniment, but Borrelli’s pairs it with scampi Sambuca, large prawns cooked in olive oil, parsley, garlic and a sweet, anise-flavored liqueur. This is a marriage even Figaro would annul.

Pasta e fagioli is merely a soup in most of our Italian restaurants. Here, it is a huge main course consisting of several kinds of pasta in a hearty bean stew. The ravioli fiori di bosco are delicious, but I’d like them better if they were not smothered in sauteed mushrooms, walnuts, sage, radicchio, garlic and basil. With nothing more than sage butter, these meat-and-spinach-filled squares would be a delight.

Borrelli makes his own gnocchi, fettuccine and lasagna, as well as a spate of seafood dishes. At lunch, go for the antipasto bar, a steal at $6.95. At dinner, the restaurant serves a family-style dinner for parties of three or more, a veritable feast for $16.95 a person.

Ristorante Borrelli is moderate to high-end moderate. Pastas and main courses range from $8.95 to $17.95.

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Until 1957, Ristorante Genovese--named for the owners, Al and Margie Genovese, and not for the city of Genoa in northern Italy--was a private home. This explains the V-shaped beamed ceiling (it used to be the attic) and the outside gables painted festive green and white.

In the ‘50s, it was a steakhouse; later on, it was a Thai restaurant. Today it is one of Orange County’s homiest neighborhood Italian restaurants, strewn with bric-a-brac that must have been accumulated over years of garage sales. Margie Genovese supervises all the cooking, mostly recipes taken from Al’s southern Italian grandmother. The customers in here all seem to know each other, making for an infectious camaraderie.

I enjoyed the food immensely, partly because it was far better than I would ever have expected. Usually when a menu is filled with such familiar dishes as fried cheese ravioli, mostaccioli with meatballs, eggplant parmigiana and shrimp scampi, you’re looking at a boring dinner.

Not here. Ristorante Genovese puts out delicious things to eat, beginning with a homemade olive, fennel and minced garlic appetizer that I defy anyone to stop eating, and ending with a frothy homemade orange cheesecake light enough to fly on its own.

The fried ravioli--a dozen for $4.50--are greaseless, almost golden and quite habit-forming. They’re stuffed with a delicate herbed ricotta filling and a thick, slightly sweet marinara sauce is served on the side for dipping.

The one dish on the Genovese menu that actually comes from Genoa is pasta al pesto, but this is a richer pesto than you’d find within 300 miles of Genoa: basil, garlic, olive oil and cheese, not to mention cream. Some nights this kitchen makes one of O.C.’s best versions of linguine carbonara , loaded with egg, fresh peas and chopped pancetta . Another special you shouldn’t pass up if you see it is osso buco , a huge veal shank inundated with a thick sauce based on veal stock, finely chopped carrots and minced celery.

The soups are terrific, especially the ultra-thick minestrone and the salty, garlicky pasta e fagioli . Steak Genovese is boneless sirloin topped with onions, mushrooms and black olives. The pork loin Siciliana is simple grilled meat, paired with a favorite artery clogger, fettuccine Alfredo.

As you exit the rear door, you’ll spot a picture of a young, trim Tommy Lasorda. It must have been taken before he started eating Margie Genovese’s good cooking.

Ristorante Genovese is moderate to expensive. House specialties are $8.95 to $11.95. Main dishes are $13.95 to $17.95.

* RISTORANTE BORRELLI

* 1011 Talbert Ave., Fountain Valley.

* (714) 963-7971.

* Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

* All major cards.

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* RISTORANTE GENOVESE

* 214 N. Tustin Ave., Orange.

* (714) 633-5654.

* Lunch 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, dinner 5 to 10 nightly.

* All major cards.