“You gotta come over here and try these!” exclaimed my friend as we grazed through a wonderland of food stations at last month’s Mama’s Kitchen fund-raiser at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine. The table he led me to was that of Piatti Locali. And within seconds I found myself swiftly downing a lemon ravioli bursting with citrus and cream that left me scheming for more.

“Are these on your regular menu?” I asked the restaurant’s general manager as his assistant plopped another dreamy ravioli onto a small plastic plate for me.

“Yes, it’s one of our most popular dishes,” he answered, unaware that I was already grabbing yet a third sample.

Turns out that these delicate pasta pillows stuffed with ricotta and spinach and bathed in lemon-infused cream rack up nearly 500 orders a week at the La Jolla restaurant, where a few weeks later I shared in a full plate of them with the same friend.

Piatti has 11 locations throughout the West – a corporate mini chain kept alive by 40 partners. The 15-year-old La Jolla kitchen, located only a few blocks from La Jolla Shores beach, now ranks as the oldest in the group.

Line cooks cram an open kitchen, which extends into the bar area and serves as the focal point in a safely decorated dining room splashed in cool green and sandy beige colors. Outside, a landmark ficus tree canopies the charming patio that seats an additional 70 customers. The overall atmosphere is pleasantly refined without feeling haughty.

Although Piatti’s food lacks the fingerprints of an Italian monarch or matriarch behind its recipes, most of what we ate adhered to the culinary tenets of rustic Tuscan and saucy Milanese cooking. Bruschetta ai Funghi, for instance, is a hearty chunk of wood-fired bread smeared with garlic and crowned with sautéed portobello mushrooms, thyme and shaved grana cheese. It’s crispy and juicy at the same time, and struck a fantastic match to my companion’s Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva that our astute waiter recommended.

Chinese eggplants are used for the Melanzane al Forno. They’re baked and topped with bubbly goat cheese and toasty bread crumbs and served in a shallow pool of mild tomato sauce. My companion, however, reached for the salt shaker while I longed for a firmer, less watery eggplant. Despite our caveats, we deemed it a more suitable dish for dining al fresco on a hot summer day, given its lightweight elements.

The Primavera Salad, comprised of butter leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes and roasted pecans, was superb. “Who would’ve thunk that Gorgonzola and dill would taste this good?” blurted my friend, in reference to the dressing that beautifully combines the two. Conversely, the Grilled Hearts of Romaine suffered from a wrapping of thickly sliced prosciutto that sported the ruggedness and pale-pink color of partially cured corned beef.

Homemade sheet pasta is used to construct both the lemon ravioli and Rotolo di Funghi, an arrangement of pinwheels filled with wild mushrooms, ricotta and spinach in a richly satisfying porcini mushroom cream sauce. Of the ravioli, the sauce was slightly thinner than what I had remembered, but still the piece de resistance to an otherwise conventional style of ravioli. It’s made simply with cream, lemon zest and lemon juice.

From the “Secondi” category, comprised of various meat dishes such as Osso Buco, Grilled Rib-Eye and Veal Piccata, I chose the delightful Petto di Pollo, a chicken breast marinated in Meyer lemons and then grilled with a brick on top of it to achieve a crackly skin and tender center. Few restaurants in town do this. Despite its underwhelming presentation with shucked, chewy corn and grilled tomatoes on the side, I loved the chicken’s charred and zesty flavor.

We also tried a few side dishes from the menu’s “Contorni” section: grilled polenta with tomato sauce and Fontina cheese lacked oomph and the Tuscan beans could have benefited from a pinch of rosemary and garlic.

Other signature dishes here include Pappardelle Fantasia – saffron pasta ribbons with Mexican white shrimp, fresh tomatoes, garlic, chili flakes and arugula coated in white wine, lemon and butter. There’s also Cavatappi con Salsicce, a toss of corkscrew pasta with homemade Italian sausage and roasted tomato sauce. And braised veal shanks (Osso Buco) served with risotto Milanese is offered only on Thursdays.

The dessert list naturally includes tiramisu, an extra-moist version that’s given a good soaking of amaretto and sucked in the velvety crème glace sitting beneath. The Torta di Cioccolato mousse cake was three times as dense as what I expected, making it a perfect choice for hardcore chocoholics.

Piatti embraces fresh ingredients culled largely from local farmers and distributors. And despite our moments of indifference over certain items, there are plenty of blue-ribbon dishes drawing eager audiences here.