St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 71

11 News and reviews II II II I I II II II VI 1 1 1 1 1 11 11 11 II 7 Ellie Foraellai bustles without 1 I Hi-). lit i gourmet on the go If you What: Ellie Forcella, an Italian taproom Where: 34 South Old Orchard Avenue, Webster Groves Atmosphere: Informal, friendly and busy multilevel bistro, featuring an eat-in game room (with board games and two pool tables), and live music on Friday nights. It strives to be welcoming to everyone: families, large parties celebrating special occasions, soccer teams, soccer moms, twen-tysomethings on dates. Signature dishes: Toasted cannelloni appetizer, lasagna, tre meci pasta, roasted half chicken, pizza Service: Friendly and unpretentious, but inconsistent Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Monday through Thursday; 1 1 a.m. to midnight Friday'and Saturday; closed Sunday Price range: Appetizers, $4.95 pizzas, sandwiches, pastas, entrees, desserts, Plastic: All major cards Reservations: Accepted until 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and for parties of 7 or more anytime Monday through Friday Smoking: In the bar area and game room Wheelchair access: Yes Other stuff: All menu items are available for carry-out. More than 30 imported beers and wine by the glass for $3.50. Nightly dinner entrees.

A late-night menu is offered after 10 p.m.; happy hour goes from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended late-night hours on Fridays. Pool is free on Saturday afternoons; otherwise it's $4 a half hour. Pool tournaments take place on Tuesday nights. Information: 314-336-5757 for the the frills i a.

rv- boneless breaded breast was appropriately juicy in the middle but charred around the edges. Pepper-grilled strip steak topped with blue cheese and a bed of arugula, came medium-rare as ordered. Touted as 8 ounces, it must have lost weight in the cooking. With no side dishes on the plate, the meat looked lonely. Like the hourlong wait, the lack of a children's menu makes Ellie's less family-friendly than it could be.

Kids basically have three choices: skroodles corkscrew noodles in either tomato or asia-go cheese sauce ($2.95) or an "itsy bitsy" pepperoni pizza Service ranged from attentive to casual; desserts ranged from chunky to cheesy. Chunky is a boldly flavored espresso chocolate chunk ice cream. Cheesy is "cheesy lemon mousse," a tart, rich, puddinglike concoction that gets its name from a combination of cheeses cream and mascarpone. Ellie Forcella is still a work in progress. A few adjustments, and it may just achieve its goal of being all things to all diners.

a 'tii 7e rices are right, but limited reservations and the lack of a children's menu can be bothersome at Tim Mallett's Italian taproom in Webster Groves. By Ellen Futterman Of the Post-Dispatch Ellie Forcella, which opened six months ago in Webster Groves, is Tim Mallett's fourth St. Louis restaurant and the third to be named after one of his children; in this case, youngest daughter Ellery. Across the street from El-lie's, Big Sky Cafe honors daughter Montana; Remy's Kitchen Wine Bar in Clayton is named for son Remington. Luckily for the name police, Mallett's first enterprise, Blue Water Grill (now in Kirkwood), came before the kids.

Assisting in the launch of Ellie Forcella was chef Lisa Slay, a creative culinary force in Mallett's productions. She's back at Blue Water, leaving Dominic Weiss in charge of Ellie's kitchen. The restaurant bills itself as an Italian taproom, which, as best as I can tell, means a bustling atmosphere appropriate for families yet colorful enough for singles; no-frills Italian fare at reasonable prices and a limited reservations policy. No matter when we showed up Saturday night at 6:30, Tuesday night at 6, Thursday night at 7 the place buzzed. It was packed on Saturday and because no reservations are accepted then, we waited nearly an hour.

Typically, that wouldn't bother my husband and me. But with children in tow, including a 4-year-old, the experience proved frustrating, especially because I had called ahead and was told that if we arrived by 6:30, the wait would be 20 minutes. This policy works better during the week, when reservations are taken until 6:30 p.m. (and later for larger parties). Then again, getting anywhere by 6:30 is no easy feat for most working parents.

But after a hard day, what's better than a liter of wine for 15 bucks? While drinking up, we drank in the design, an interesting but odd mix of red-and-white checkered tablecloths, dark wood HILLARY LEVIN Ellie Forcella is a popular spot for family and usual dining. The surrealistic mural on the back wall was painted by owner Tim Mallett's wife, Kimber Mallett. It shows, among other things, their daughter Ellery, a forcella (wishbone in Italian), chickens and a stack of plates. i 'f. 14-year-old thought was a burrito and my husband swore was a cal-zone.

Ellie's veggie version, which packs artichoke hearts, broccoli, zucchini and provolone cheese into a doughy envelope, is served with tomato sauce. Inexplicably, the portion doubled from one visit to the next. Most of the pastas come in two sizes, for a couple of dollars difference. Penne, in a spicy tomato coulis sauce topped with a breaded eggplant slice, was covered with a light layer of melted provolone and Parmesan The eggplant cutlet was tender, and the sauce, laced with crushed red pepper, had the right fiery touch. Tre meci ($8.95) combines short, tubular noodles with salsic-cia, chunks of pork and ground veal.

Tossed in tomato sauce and topped with ricotta cheese, the meal has potential, but the pork was fatty. Entrees were uniformly OK and more conventional than those at Mallett's pricier restaurants. -Chicken Parmesan ($10.95) was grilled, instead of fried. A large inr and a couple of dining lofts (left over from the building's days as Streetside Records). One of these lofts doubles as a game room, with two pool tables.

Appetizers include toasted cannelloni an appealing variation on ravioli. Six deep-fried can- nelloni, resembling mini-eggrolls, were stuffed with ground beef, brushed in Parmesan and served with a chunky tomato sauce. Fried calamari ($6.50) brought a heaping plate of tender ringlets, dusted in breadcrumbs and Parmesan. A traditional Italian dipping sauce of lemon, butter and garlic nicely complemented the squid. As for the main courses, keep it simple with pizza or pasta.

Ellie's pizza is a generous 10-inch round, with a light, thin crust, baked in a stone oven. One topped with tomato, basil and sliced buffalo moz-zarella ($8.95) was clean and uncomplicated. The four-cheese pizza ($7.95) was tasty, but surprisingly lacking in cheese. Good, though heavier, is the stromboli a dish my 4-year-old called a Hot Pocket, my.