There is no chef Oliver at Oliver’s Osteria. It’s chef-owner Erik De Marchi who leads an all-out defense of faithful Italian fare at his tidy Laguna Canyon tavern. As for Oliver? He’s De Marchi’s first child, born on the restaurant’s opening day in October. 

Wedged into an oddball retail center that has seen its share of restaurants come and go, Oliver’s will be fully discovered by festival season, I predict. Not just because it’s strolling distance from Laguna Beach’s fabled summer events but because De Marchi and crew serve dishes that recall the gastronomic plenty of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, De Marchi’s home turf.