SMART MOVE: SANTI RESTAURANT'S MOVE FROM GEYSERVILLE TO SANTA ROSA PUTS ITS GREAT ITALIAN FOOD IN REACH OF MORE PEOPLE

In today's fast-paced world, a decade is enough time to spend in one job or in one place before reinventing yourself. So in April, just before its 10-year anniversary in its old spot in Geyserville, Santi moved to Fountaingrove Village in Santa Rosa, into a space next to the new Traverso's.

Wise move. On a recent Saturday, the place was nearly full by 5:30 and by 6 o'clock, people were standing by the bar (all the barstools were filled), waiting to be seated for dinner.

The talented Liza Hinman remains the chef and the menu is similar to the one in Geyserville. Decorations from the old place grace the walls here and there, but the Fountaingrove venue has regenerated the restaurant. The new kitchen is open to view, including the bricked-in wood-fired oven -- a must for serious Italian restaurants these days. A partition separates the dining area from the full bar. It's as comfortable a place for lunch with twelve o'clocktails, a mid-afternoon meeting, dinner with family and friends, or a late snack as there is in Santa Rosa. All are easily accommodated as the restaurant is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Dinner starts with excellent Italian ciabatta from Full Circle Bakery in Penngrove, a bakery that's established itself right up there with Artisan, Della Fattoria, Wild Flour and Downtown Bakery & Creamery for superb quality Sonoma County bread. A young staffer will bring a cruet of olive oil and pour a small dish for you. It's Merchants & Millers oil -- a mild oil with a light olive fruitiness but no Tuscan bite. How I wish restaurants would serve some of California's most robust oils like Apollo, Lunigiana, DaVero or the Tuscan-style oils made at The Olive Press in Sonoma, even if they'd charge a few extra bucks for a pour.

The bread and oil are important at a good Italian restaurant, for the bread acts like a sponge for the rich sauces and the oil can be sprinkled on vegetables and meats as well as soaked up by the bread.

Another accessory for good Italian cooking is the wine. (Some might argue that the food is the accessory.) The wine list is heavy with Italian wines, which is satisfying because their mineral angularity complements Italian food so well. This includes wines by the glass. A glass of fresh, white 2008 Falanghina from La Sibilla is $11 and a thick, red 2007 Valpolicella ripasso, made by adding grape skins from a previous fermentation to a new fermentation of red wine, is $12. Some notable bottles include Seghesio's 2009 Fiano, a white grape of Campania, for $32, a 2004 Montepulciano "La Valentina" for $43, the 2006 Iron Horse "Wedding Cuvee" sparkler for $59 and a 2007 Chappellet "Mountain Cuvee" red for a hefty $60 -- hefty considering The Wine Club of Los Angeles offers it online for $19.99.

Among 15 antipasti, the Oven-Roasted Clams ($10 ****) stood out. A bowl of about a dozen small littlenecks had popped open from their roasting and the clam juice formed a delicious broth in the bottom, enhanced with chopped garlic sprinkled over the clams and bits of a spicy house-made sausage. Swooping up a clam, a bit of sausage, some garlic, and clam broth made each mouthful a treat to be savored. Washed down with a swig of Falanghina, the clams were divine, as befits a restaurant whose name is Italian for "saints" and is located in a town called Santa Rosa.

Fava Salad ($10 ***) was also excellent. Fava beans taken from their pods and shelled out of their gray-green jackets, bits of ricotta salata cheese, fresh small arugula leaves, sliced radishes, lemon and mint topped a base of dark farro grain. The salad was dressed with a lemony, tangy -- but overly oily -- dressing.

French Breakfast Radishes ($4 **) served with anchovy butter sounded intriguing, but cold butter, with just a slight flavor of anchovies, doesn't really improve these radishes' icy sweetness. Small black and white piles of salt were also on hand for dipping. This dish might be better with bitter, pungent Russian black radishes.

Pickled ramps upstaged the Duck Liver Pat?? ($11 *** 1/2 ) they accompanied. Ramps are only available in late spring and are an onion-family member found growing wild east of the Rockies. Pickling them is a great idea. The flat ramekin of pat??, tasting mildly of liver, was smooth and silky, and contained crunchy fleurs de sel that set off salty flavor bombs when crushed in the mouth. But that wasn't all. Little whole rosettes of mache and a long slice of crunchy grilled bread added to the plate.

After the antipasti comes the pasta course, the "primi piatti" or first plate. Santi's well-known Spaghettini ($16 ***) noodles are thinner than spaghetti but thicker than capellini. They are served with "Thomas' sugo," a reference to the late chef-owner Thomas Oden who, along with Franco Dunn, first opened Santi in Geyserville and put it on the map. It was his family's recipe for Calabrese sugo -- rich tomato sauce with braised beef and pork. It's Santi's homage to Chef Oden. It's a simple pasta with sugo and pecorino romano cheese and is darn good. If you're taking the kids, this dish will be a safe pleaser even for picky eaters.

Nonni's Ravioli ($15 **1/2 ) is grandma's ravioli, simple squares of al dente pasta stuffed with dabs of ricotta cheese and served in a burro fusso, or brown butter sauce, and sprinkled with torn-up Italian flat-leaf parsley. The idea of this dish is fine, but there was way too much butter going on, and butter isn't really the default oil for Italian dishes. Olive oil is. I'll say this for Santi: it's one of the few regional Italian restaurants that takes care to serve its pasta truly al dente, with some substance to the tooth, instead of cooked soft.

Among the six "secondi piatti," or entrees, the Wood Oven Roasted Steelhead ($24 ***) was outstanding. The fish was salmon pink, flaky and juicy and came with fingerling potatoes, fried baby artichokes and lemon-herb aioli. Grilled Lamb Spiedino ($24 *** 1/2 ) was an irresistible skewer of tender lamb chunks crusted from the hot fire, luscious fava beans, fennel shavings, black beluga lentils and grilled lemon slices along with ricotta cheese. Scrumptious.

Don't miss the impeccable desserts. The Semifreddo ($8 ****) with cherries macerated in red wine and almond meringue was as good as this frozen dessert gets. And the Brown Butter Crepes ($8 ****) with fresh strawberries and Bellwether ricotta were like blintzes that have gone to heaven. Excellent job and kudos to the pastry and dessert chef.

Service at the new Santi was just as good as the food.

To sum up: Santi has moved to Santa Rosa, which brings one of Sonoma County's best Italian restaurants within easy reach of a lot more people than its former location in Geyserville.

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review column for the Sonoma Living section. You can reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.