Capriccio Family Style Restaurant

Restaurateur Elio Sobrero has been feeding Long Islanders for decades. His destination-special occcasion spots included La Primavera in East Hills and Capriccio in Jericho. He brought back La Primavera in slightly different form to the old Hicksville site of La Caravella a few years ago. Meantime, the Capriccio name passed into history.

Now, it's back but in different form: Capriccio Family Style Restaurant. Exit La Primavera, here comes something different. Capriccio specializes in fixed-price dinners for $25 and family-style dinners. But you'll also find a limited a la carte menu.

Sobrero prepares good baked clams oreganata and better eggplant rollatine; lush and nostalgia-flavored fettuccine all'Alfredo and a satisfying version of chicken scarpariello. Maybe more important, two signature desserts have made the transition: "chocolate velvet" cake, a flourless production that once was unusual on Long Island; and the meringue "bombe," tall and light, finished with creme anglaise, that remains eye-catching. Service is old-fashioned and professional. The decor, of course, has not changed.

Capriccio Family Style Restaurant is at 294 N. Broadway, Hicksville, on the west side, north of the mall; 516-938-0220.