The tantalizing aromas of garlic, tomatoes and herbs wafting south along Auto Row told us a time-honored Italian kitchen was back in business.

A haven for hungry Napans for the better part of the past century, the former Depot Restaurant just off Soscol south of Third street is humming once again.

Partners Fabrizio Castangia and Alessandro Baratella, both natives of Italy, have teamed up to offer Napans what they know best — regional Italian cuisine.

Fabrizio’s Restaurant spotlights the cookery of Sardinia, an ancient Phoenician stronghold and the second largest island — after Sicily — in the Mediterranean Sea. However, regional favorites from Piemonte to Palermo also dot the culinary landscape.

The new partnership has put a fresh coat of paint and a new face on the Napa landmark. And they intend to retain the casual, friendly atmosphere that was the hallmark of the old Depot decade in and out since the Roaring ’20s. Not only that, the Italian language can be heard once again in both dining room and kitchen — music to our ears.

“This might not be the best time for us to open a restaurant,” says Baratella, referencing the nation’s current economic downturn. “But we had the opportunity to lease this well-known space so we decided to do it.”

Baratella dreamed of operating his own restaurant ever since the mid-’80s when he agreed to lease space in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center. However, property owners decided instead to install a cinema in the space that had initially been earmarked for dining and his dream was put on hold.

It was during this period that he met a young chef from Italy working at the legendary Washington Square Bar & Grill in San Francisco’s North Beach. Baratella and his wife, Elisabetta, had launched a business that supplied fresh produce to restaurants and chef Fabrizio Castangia was one of their customers. The two men quickly became friends and over the years talked of working together in their own restaurant.

Baratella comes from Montagnana, a medieval walled city in Italy’s Veneto and came to this country about the same time his new partner relocated to the Bay Area from Europe.

Castangia was raised in Cabras, a small village near the western coast of Sardinia, in a family that ate well, he says. “My mother was an incredible cook,” the veteran chef reminisced as he talked about preparing family meals as a young man.

At 15, Castangia signed on to work with a master chef at a popular eatery in nearby Torre Grande, site of a landmark lighthouse. “He was a great chef who had spent considerable time (perfecting his craft) in Piemonte and then returned to his home to have his own restaurant.”

By the time Castangia turned 17, he was anxious to see the world. So he set off to work and refine his skills in Germany. Not only did he learn the language, he also wound up over a period of two decades working in Berlin restaurants that specialized in Italian cuisine, especially that of Sardinia. His oldest sons, twins Alex and Nicky, were born in Berlin and the family was there when the Berlin Wall came down, he noted.

In addition to working in San Francisco, Castangia spent several years earlier this decade as one of the chefs at the former downtown Napa eatery, Belle Arti.

Simple, well

executed menu

Chef Castangia is offering a simple menu, with flavorful dishes focusing on pastas and fruits of the sea. The traditional Sardinian fregola — handmade with coarse semolina and water and then rubbed to form little pellets of pasta which are then toasted — is sauced with mussels, clams and shrimp, or, on occasion, with Mediterranean lobster.

Spaghetti can be wedded to clams, prepared Viareggio style, or ordered with one of the daily changing ragus: at present, a hearty wild boar and mushroom sauce takes to penne like the proverbial duck to water. Gnocchetti sardi — uniquely grooved dried pasta — is tossed with a ragu that blends together finely diced beef and pork simmered in renowned San Marzano tomatoes, spring garlic and fresh herbs.

From the simplicity of spaghetti aglio e olio (pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic and red chile pepper flakes) to mezzaluna (half moons stuffed with fresh ricotta and spinach) napped with butter and sage, prices for Fabrizio’s pastas range in price from $10 to $16. If Fabrizio’s toothsome cannelloni is offered as a daily special, here’s some good advice — order it.

The chef says the tab for “secondi,” or the main course, tops out at $24 for bistecca alla griglia (grilled New York steak). In addition to a variety of seafood specials offered daily, the entrees include roasted half chicken ($20) basted with cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic and fresh basil; grilled lamb chops ($21); Tuscan-style veal medallions ($24) topped with provolone and sage; and gamberoni al Guazzetto ($23), grilled prawns in a light roasted garlic and tomato sauce.

Antipasti range from classic Vitello Tonnato (thinly sliced veal in a caper and tuna mayonnaise sauce) and Insalata Toscana (thinly sliced fennel and orange slices with olive oil and balsamic vinegar) — both offered at $9 — to Asparagi alla Parmigiana ($12), the seasonal spears topped with sunnyside up eggs and shaved parmesan cheese. Carpaccio is offered two ways — with fillet of beef or salmon, the latter alternately layered with thinly sliced monkfish. And these days soup of the day ($7) has to include asparagus and garden-picked vegetables.

In coming weeks, look for the chef to tempt diners with his version of involtino — rolled veal stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and blue cheese cooked in a simple wine, parsley and butter sauce.

A tradition kept alive by Sardinian fisherman, bottarga is cured fish roe. Expect chef Castangia to incorporate this Mediterranean delicacy into pasta and other regional dishes.

When fall rolls around, you’ll find the kitchen serving up the Sardinian version of baccala, traditional salt cod slowly cooked in tomatoes and fish stock, a staple of the Italian kitchen.

Desserts ($6-$8) include panna cotta with raspberries, Coppa Mascarpone (chocolate swirled mascarpone cream with cookies and chocolate curls) and a selection of gelati.

Down the line, the partners will open the restaurant several days a week for lunch. However, at present only dinner is offered by chef Castangia and his crew, daily between 5:30 and 10 p.m. (later on weekends with customer demand). And just about everything on the menu can be ordered to go, adds Baratella, who’s not only front of the house partner but in charge of selecting the mix of Italian and Napa Valley wines for the restaurant’s list.

The official address of Fabrizio’s Restaurant is 806 Fourth St., Napa; however, the easiest way to tell newcomers how to find it is to look for the former Depot building just to the north of the railroad crossing on Soscol Avenue. The restaurant’s lounge is offering a selection of wines by the glass and both domestic and Italian beer. For information and reservations, call 226-1900.

The good news is that Fabrizio Castangia is once again manning the stoves at a local restaurant and, now, the restaurant is his. Fabrizio’s ristorante e‘ aperto.