CA, Malibu - Allegria

On the Pacific Coast Highway almost at the center of the 27-mile strip that encompasses Malibu is a small Italian restaurant called Allegria. The restaurant is on the east side of PCH backed up to the cliffs that restrict Malibu to the narrow coastal strip of land next to the beach or occasionally to dwellings that cling limpet like to the foothills of the Sierras that separate Malibu from the lush central valley and expensive suburbia that is Thousand Oaks.

The restaurant is long and narrow. Most of the tables are along the window facing the road, but there are seats for 30 or so diners on the northwest side of the restaurant behind the kitchen. The décor is comfortably rustic, wood tables and chairs and comfortable four person booths, wood panels on the walls and exposed wood beams in the ceiling.

As I pondered the menu, which is, of course, dominated by pasta and pizza I was given a small basket of bread fingers sliced from an Italian loaf and some spaghetti sauce for dipping. Very nice. I chose Dover sole, cooked with tomatoes, olives and garlic and served with spinach and fried potatoes. The wine list looked quite good with several wines available for sale by the glass, but I was at the end of one of my sojourns of ‘a-week-without-alcohol’ so I resisted the temptation.

The meat from the fish was carefully removed from the bone at the table by a very competent waiter and then covered by the sauce poured from a small side bowl. It was excellent, the relatively light taste of the fish was enhanced and not overpowered by the sauce. Unfortunately the fried potatoes were less appetizing and the spinach was, well, spinach.

Cost including a large bottle of Pellegrino, a cappuccino and 20% tip - $66

http://www.allegriamalibu.com/