BY ERIC NOLAND >RESTAURANT CRITIC

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It seems you can’t browse a farmers’ market anymore without bumping into a lot of people in white smocks, checkered pants and kitchen clogs.

Every serious chef in the city wants to work with the freshest produce available, and the competition out there is fierce.

Tindaro Petttignano goes them one better: He grows his own. The chef-owner of La Pergola Ristorante in Sherman Oaks has two garden plots totaling a half-acre, one of them just a few steps from his establishment, and he builds a nightly specials menu from whatever has been harvested by his full-time gardener.

With a slight detour, diners en route to the restaurant can stroll past “Tino’s Garden,” an agrarian pocket in a most unlikely place — on Lemona Avenue, half a block from busy Ventura Boulevard. We lingered for a moment in the shade of a mature, leafy fig tree, then moments later tasted its contribution to the appetizer menu.

Roasted figs ($14.50) were served on bread with shavings of Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, and a little side salad of arugula that had been drizzled with balsamic. What an intriguing collection of flavors this terrific dish delivered. Another tasty offering was Tino’s Garden Ravioli ($18.50) from the printed menu. Its filling delivered a burst a flavor from butternut squash, zucchini flowers and white eggplant. The shell of the pasta was fresh and delicious, with just enough cream sauce to enhance the dish. Nice balance here.

Extremely disappointing, however, was a tomato salad ($12.50) from the daily menu. The tomatoes simply weren’t ripe yet, which meant a woody consistency, little juiciness and barely any flavor. They had needed another three days, perhaps more, on the vine. If a restaurant is going to tout its garden, there’s just no excuse for picking early just to have a tomato salad on the menu. A pity, because everything else on the plate was great: basil, Maui onions, juicy cucumbers.

Another annoyance is La Pergola’s decision not to print out its nightly garden-driven menu. Instead, our waiter detailed the special offerings in one endless, droning recital. We were quickly swamped: Wait, what was the second appetizer? And there was something with eggplant in there, wasn’t there? What does the salmon come with? When he subsequently ran down this list for a nearby table, I eavesdropped and counted three appetizers, two soups, three salads, three pastas, three fish entrees and three meat entrees.

Diners who wish to compare and contrast before making decisions shouldn’t have to log 17 different dishes, with all their nuances of preparation, into the memory bank. Fish is a reputed strength of La Pergola, and we were pleased with a trout special ($22). The fish was butterflied, carefully boned and lightly grilled, so that the meat was moist and flaky. Herbs were sprinkled over the top in a simple preparation. It was accompanied by carrots and zucchini (the latter may have been garden-fresh, but it was nonetheless overcooked).

This is a restaurant richly steeped in Italian tradition, and an advisable dessert choice is spumoni ($8.50), with rich chocolate and imbedded candied fruit.

At its best: A comfortable, affordable neighborhood restaurant that dishes up familiar Italian offerings, rather than trying to be cutting edge. You get the sense that there are a lot of regulars in here.

Could be better: The garden is a great asset, but its use seems to be a bit hit and miss on the menu.

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review>

LA PERGOLA

>Rating:

>Details: 15005 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Open nightly for dinner at 5 p.m., until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (818) 905-8402, www.lapergolaristorante.com.

>Cost: Appetizers $5 to $12.50, soup and salad $8.50 to $18.50, main courses $16.50 to $28.50, desserts $8.50.

>Noteworthy: The decor is colorful, owing to the liberal use of hand-painted Italian ceramics from La Pergola's shop next door (open by appointment only). California portion of the wine list could use some broadening - the only domestic white varietal available is chardonnay. Don't miss out on the crunchy grissini (thin breadsticks).

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