Chef Leone Palagi

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PRESS ENTERPRISE REVIEW

Published: August 24, 2001

MARIO'S PLACE HAS GREAT VIBES, VITTLES:

HIP SPOT: The Riverside eatery could be right at home in either Soho or South Beach, Miami, too.

By PAUL ROBERTS (SPECIAL TO THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE)

I pointed my car east, popped in an old Billy Joel tape and put on a "New York State of Mind." I was searching for that cool, urban feeling where the food is great, the bars close late and the music goes on forever. The kind of jazzy, snazzy place I knew thrived in Manhattan, Chicago and San Francisco. But not in Riverside. Never Riverside. That is until Mario's Place opened it's doors to the possibility of world class vibes and vittles right in our own downtown.

Sound fantastic? It certainly is. What sounds like some kind of "joint" turns out to be the most hip, happening place in the whole Inland Empire. The kind of place that could easily compete in SoHo, SoMa or South Beach, Miami, if it weren't across from the Mission Inn. Mark my words. Mario's is the place that will really put this area on the map.

It's been a long road. From the summer of '69, when Mario and Eleanora Palagi left the comfort of Tuscany for the chaos of America, to the fall of '81 when they opened their first 50-seat ristorante in a renovated house on Magnolia Boulevard in Riverside, life has never been easy at Mario's Place.

When Mario himself passed away three years after opening, his wife and teen-aged sons bravely carried on until a shopping center forced them to find a new space on Spruce Street. There for the last 10 years, they've dreamed of the day that Mario's could rightly move into the heart of the city.

After four years of searching and two years of struggling to get all their loans, leases and permits, that day has finally arrived. With the three boys now in charge, including Leone in the kitchen and twins Andrea and Arrigo out front, this is a thoroughly updated version of the original. A cover tune, you might call it, with all the modern arrangements you'd expect to find in a contemporary classic from a wood burning pizza oven and display kitchen to a dark paneled bar with natural brick walls and an art-filled dining room. As Leone says, "we finally have a setting that matches our food."

Like the progressive jazz they're fond of featuring on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Mario's menu is innovative without being intimidating. They take a standard like Grilled Rib Eye and then improvise, adding their own unique solos and accents (red wine sauce and black olive tapenade) without losing sight of the main melody. It's fusion without the fuss.

Take our first appetizer, Spot Prawns with Caramelized Fennel and Grapefruit Tarragon Vinaigrette. What sounded like a mouthful was actually quite simple: three large shrimp and three asparagus spears on a bed of shaved, licorice flavored fennel with a tiny touch of tart grapefruit sauce.

The same with our Seared Scallops with Crispy Saffron Risotto Cone. It was simple yet evocative. I particularly liked what was missing from this dish: the heavy sauce that usually drowns out the full taste of scallops this fresh. Or as Chef Leone later elaborated, "sometimes it's just as important what you leave out as what you add." Here he added just a hint of sauce. Not even that. It was more like a drop or dab, an "essence" as he called it, culled from the sweet soul of bell peppers. Bellisima! It brought out the often overlooked sweet taste of these treats.

The only thing that missed me was the Risotto Cone. It was strong and cheesy and only seemed to be there for show. It proved to be the only unpleasant surprise of the evening, particularly since the menu made no mention of the cheese at all.

The homemade Linguini Buccaniera was much better. A classic dish with very fresh New Zealand mussels and minced bits of Maine Lobster in a beautifully tangy tomato-garlic-oregano sauce. The pasta, made fresh daily, had that authentic "al dente" (or "to the tooth") firmness and flavor. And the sauce showed the care to which Mario's selects its own locally grown, organic vegetables.

And the service. When our waiter was too busy to handle a question, you had only to look up and two others appeared at your table to see if they could help. I can't get service like that at the Ritz Carlton. Nor do they serve anything as remarkable as our final entree of the evening: Smoked Scottish Salmon on a Celery Root base with Beet Chips and Grilled Scallions.

This dish had it all. Contrasting colors, texture and tastes. Two potato imposters including a strangely appealing celery puree that looked more like thinly mashed spuds and crisp beet slices fried up like potato chips. Add to those gooey and crunchy contrasts a light, berry flavored red wine sauce and the brawny onion flavor of grilled scallions and you got the Modern Jazz Quartet playing on your plate. As I mixed it all together, my tongue came up with endless variations on a theme. It was a gastronomic jam session where no flavor stepped on any other nor outshone the true star of this performance: smoked salmon like I've never seen it before. Rich and sensual, tender to the touch, I get turned on just thinking about it.

Mario's whole place is like that. It's cool and haute, confident and uncompromising, with everyone swinging. For me, they hit all the right notes.