For anyone who saw the 1996 art film Big Night, it’s difficult to forget the beautifully hideous-looking Timpano served in the final scene at an Italian restaurant operated by two brothers.

The mammoth loaf of tube pasta, layered with meats, eggs and vegetables, practically jumped off the screen and into the mouths of aroused viewers — many of whom thought the dish was merely an elaborate prop for the Italian-flavored comedy. But those who knew better eventually found their way to Lotsa Pasta in Pacific Beach, where the recipe is concocted in 16-pound batches and sold in delectable one-pound slices.

Timpano isn’t commonly found in commercial kitchens, unless you travel to Calabria, Italy, where the kaleidoscopic dish supposedly originated many decades ago. Catholics would expunge from their refrigerators all of the foods they were giving up for Lent and create monstrous loaves out of them, held together by pasta. The feast, cooked in a drum-shaped pan (timpano), was consumed, appropriately, on Fat Tuesday.

Stumbling upon Timpano in a trendy strip-plaza eatery seems ironic at first until you glance at the openly displayed pasta machines that crank out an array of shapes and cuts for simpler Italian fare. A typical meal here, for instance, requires that you choose from a list of 17 sauces before deciding on a desired pasta mold — spaghetti, linguini, rotelli, penne, angel hair, etc. The fun and pondering continues as you then choose from several different pasta flavors such as red bell pepper, Italian herb or lemon-parsley, to name a few.

My dining companion ended up with a winning combination of semolina angel hair pasta topped with a classic Puttanesca sauce made with roma tomatoes, anchovies, olives and capers. The dish perfectly captured the essence of Italy with its simplicity and fresh flavor, although the accompanying garlic bread was doughy rather than crusty. And the Roasted Garlic Soup included with the meal appeared anemic and lacked flavor.

But the eye-popping Timpano I ordered was downright glorious — an all-in-one meal containing some excellent Italian sausage, chunks of meatball, plus tube pasta and hardboiled egg — just like what I remember seeing on the big screen. In what is likely a contemporary twist on the recipe, the restaurant serves it with a medley of sauces (creamy basil, Alfredo and vodka) in an effort to duplicate the colors of the Italian flag. The fact that no other Italian restaurant in town serves Timpano remains a great mystery to me. This is, after all, the hottest selling dish on the menu.

The kitchen sufficiently tips its American hat to Italy with things like Lasagna, made with a blend of imported and domestic cheeses, Pollo Dijon served over spinach fettuccine, Broccoli-Penne Salad, plus several good pasta sauces that range from Bolognese and Di Parma to red clam and Rustico. The ethnic theme is interrupted, however, with the inclusion of New England Clam Chowder, Thai Chicken Ravioli and Chipotle Southwest pasta sauce.

Service is casual, yet surprisingly efficient for Pacific Beach. And we particularly liked the menu’s numbered code system that aids in the pairing of various dishes with popular white and red wines.

Even better is the straightforward dessert menu featuring an ultra-refreshing Granita — a citrus sorbet served in a frozen, hollowed-out grapefruit shell topped with a slice of lime. Also listed are White-and-Dark Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla Beach Ice Cream with a Chocolate Chip Cookie, and of course, Tiramisu, which competes in size and authenticity with that coveted, hard-to-find Timpano.