Allison's Ristorante

Exit Amalfi, enter Allison's. And you'll still feel near the same coast.

The Italian fare is familiar and very good at this warm, inviting restaurant. With unpretentious style and accommodating service, the new face easily elicits a smile.

Allison's, like its immediate predecessor at this address, is awash in sunny tones, if not azure waves. The dining rooms sport colorful ceramics and more subdued, generically continental art. Tables are respectably spaced apart, and the noise level is mercifully low. Waiters stay attentive. It's likely you'll linger.

The establishment doesn't go in for excitement so much as it appreciates traditions. They take a fairly conservative, risk-averse approach, almost guarding against an insurrection of the imagination.

Clams casino and oreganata are predictably tasty. Likewise, the oysters in a sauce of sparkling wine. You can go a gutsier route with fried calamari in a sauce shot with cherry peppers.

Even better is the lightly smoky grilled squid, tender atop triangles of polenta, finished with a scattering of chopped tomatoes. Polenta boosts the opener of grilled portobello mushrooms, which arrive with an accent of balsamic vinegar.

Allison's prepares a snappy gnocchi in pesto, vibrant enough to elicit summertime. Linguine with white clam sauce is standard stuff. But the penne alla Allison, with chopped tomatoes, garlic and basil, takes a predictable, blunt combination and makes it seem fresh.

The best pasta, however, is a special, silver-dollar shaped production capped with chopped tomatoes and tangy buffalo mozzarella. The pastas are worth sharing as appetizers.

Tricolor and Caesar salads are ordinary. Instead, sample the union of greens, Gorgonzola cheese, sliced pear and assorted nuts, for a diverting alternative.

Seafood is the highlight of the coastal eatery. Grilled tuna with mustard sauce shows up rosy and flavorful. Orata, the Mediterranean sea bream, is a fine choice, sauteed with fennel and a hint of Pernod.

For a huskier dish, sample branzino, the Mediterranean bass, which arrives via white wine, tomatoes, clams and mussels. Allison's also is adept at Dover sole meuniere and lobster fra diavolo.

But a special of Spanish prawns, which approximate small lobsters in size, is an overcooked group, beached on a mound of spaghetti in fra diavolo sauce.

Chicken Sorrentino breaks no boundaries with eggplant and melted mozzarella. Chicken fantasia translates into a plump breast covered with onions, cherry peppers and sweet sausage.

The pounded and breaded veal chop "capriosa" is a Milanese in mufti, with a mantle of tomato and salad greens. But you do get the pleasing hot-cool contrast. The veal chop stuffed with buffalo ricotta and spinach has more heft. The porterhouse steak for one completes its Mediterranean tour with bearnaise sauce.

The desserts are a mixed group, some showing ambition, but none with any sense of adventure. Cannoli are the obligatory sweets, expertly filled and handily ahead of the rest.

A Grand Marnier souffle with chocolate sauce is more than a bit overcooked. The exceedingly neutral semifreddo receives an apricot drizzle, which accounts for its only flavor.

But chocolate mousse is mild and good enough, except if you're a devotee of the deep and dark. The pear poached in red wine is a mellow, recommended finale, vanilla ice cream on the side.

The espresso and cappuccino are well-done and welcome. So's Allison's.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 11/30/03.