Alfredo’s keeps the legacy of Chef Soerke Peters, yet new owner Freddy Ortiz sets the tone.

It’s not that the dining room is still. Talk and laughter fill the space. Servers chat with guests as orders arrive at the tables.

Alfredo’s Pastaria & Mozzarella Bar is busy on a Saturday night, as one would expect. Yet there is a pervasive sense of calm that defies the commotion of dinner rush – an ease to the manner of staff members, a pace to food service that is neither rushed nor measured, and the genial confidence of Freddy Ortiz.

This is more than 40 years in local restaurants showing. Ortiz has been in kitchens and in front-of-the-house roles at institutions such as the Sardine Factory and Whaling Station Steakhouse. He took over what was Mezzaluna Pastaria & Mozzarella Bar as a first-time owner in June when veteran Chef Soerke Peters decided to sell. And while he vowed to maintain Peters’ commitment to house-made quality, the restaurant feels like Ortiz’s creation.

Granted, he had a bit of a head start. Ortiz served as general manager for a few years before purchasing the space, so he had an opportunity to set the tone, at least in the dining room. And Peters’ menu provided a not-broken, don’t-fix vantage point.

“I know we have a really good menu,” Ortiz says. “It’s important to keep doing what we’re doing.”

That means burrata with an English pea pesto so scrupulous it would never consider imposing itself on the delicate cheese, instead giving a quiet, supportive herbal nod. Pappardelle in a cured pork bolognese is equally composed, the natural sweetness of tomato tempering the brawny swagger of the meat.

Pasta is prepared in house with flour imported from Italy and eggs from free-range chickens. The sauces begin with wine and butter rather than cream, an exception being a rigatoni dish created in tribute to the former New York destination, Coco Pazzo. Pancetta is cured in house and there is an evident commitment to Old World technique.

Such is not to be confused with tradition that becomes unyielding. There are moments of play, such as nightly specials. From the bar, watermelon, mint and demerara bring the freshness of summertime to a margarita, with just a whisper of molasses. Averna lends a brooding swirl of dark chocolate and winter spices to the Manhattan.

Even a simple charcuterie plate offers consonance, even through contrary blasts – the sharp darts of mustard seed or the sweet vampire smile of roasted peppers erupting over the hushed note of mortadella, yet readying the palate for what comes next.

Ortiz not only learned Peters’ recipes, he also made certain to contact all the vendors, making note of just which brands or farms the chef used for specific ingredients. He reasoned that even the slightest change might tip a dish slightly off balance.

As this attention to detail suggests, consistency is not so easily achieved. “You can reach a goal, but the trick is to stay there,” Ortiz says. “It’s a lot of pressure.”

But there is no anxiety evident. He has pulled off a seamless transition, with the adoption of Alfredo’s the only obvious change.

Ortiz laughs as he tells of his struggle over the restaurant’s name. Peters owns another Mezzaluna, and although it is located in northwest Arkansas, far from any potential for competition, he would only part with the Pastaria & Mozzarella Bar bit.

But this posed a dilemma. A name change would potentially call into question Ortiz’s commitment to keep the concept unchanged.

“I needed to come up with a good name,” he observes. “A lot of people know me.”

Diners and restaurant staff in Monterey County have referred to Ortiz as Freddy for over four decades. Before that – and to this day – his family used the short form.

“The more I thought about it, Freddy’s sounded too casual,” he explains.

Yet Ortiz has succeeded in transforming the restaurant into his place, even as Peters’ same exquisite pasta dishes are brought from kitchen to table. Change has come not to the menu or quality of ingredients, but to the restaurant’s personality. The mood is of broad, familiar smiles and easy conversation, pats on the back from a longtime friend, all with a quiet graciousness – fine dining food paired to a relaxed room.

It is Alfredo’s in name and cuisine, Freddy’s by nature.

ALFREDO’S PASTARIA & MOZZARELLA BAR, 1188 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. (831) 372-5325, alfredospastariaandmozzarellabar.com.