Try Grandmother’s Lasagna : Vincenti Ristorante in Brentwood offers the splendors of cooking that is truly Italian.

The late, great Rex il Ristorante it is not. But Mauro Vincenti is surely watching over the new restaurant his widow, Maureen, and his last chef, Gino Angelini, have just opened in Brentwood.

Vincenti doesn’t pretend to re-create the languor or retro-glamour of Rex. After months of renovating a former Chinese restaurant on San Vicente Boulevard, the two have unveiled a vibrant ristorante with a knockout contemporary decor and cooking that is truly Italian.

Walk in the door and there, at the end of the room, is Angelini in tall starched hat manning the wood-burning rotisserie and oven. You don’t even need the menu to know what to order: misto di carne, mixed spit-roasted meats; the casserole of guinea fowl cooked under a coverlet of bread and salt; the sumptuous T-bone steak for two; or a beautiful whole roasted Dover sole. I’d never met an ahi tuna I truly liked until I tasted Angelini’s seared tuna on a pillow of slightly bitter pureed cardoons. His custardy sweetbreads lightly drizzled with aged aceto balsamico are just as much a revelation.

But then just about everything I tried on a first visit was pretty terrific, from exquisitely light fried calamari and zucchini or comforting honeycomb tripe simmered with tomato to spaghetti tossed with artichokes, egg yolk, Pecorino, parsley and mint. Not to mention his grandmother’s recipe for an ethereal green lasagna.

I didn’t want to stop eating.

BE THERE

Vincenti Ristorante, 11930 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood; (310) 207-0127. Open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner only. Valet parking. Antipasti $6.50 to $20; primi $6 to $18; secondi $18 to $36.