Il Bacco

This veteran restaurant, consistent as a crocus, excels with traditional Italian cooking, keeping surprises in check, nouvelle-ties at bay and red wine flowing.

Sometimes, the menu itself just seems an afterthought. Most of the customers are regulars. Plenty know what they want before opening the door. The staff adopts everyone. Diners arrive and leave happy.

The looks haven't changed much over the years. The dining room is split by a room divider capped with a silk floral arrangement. The walls are lined with familiar landscapes, seascapes and still-life artwork of the above-the-sofa school. Abstractions don't suit Il Bacco.

Minestrone does. In spring form, it's thin, tomatoey, light but generous nevertheless. The house's pasta e fagioli is even better, full of flavor, tender beans and tubettini. Rustic lentil soup competes favorably in this company, too.

The hot antipasto is highlighted by the crisp fried calamari, undone by chewy shrimp. Carpaccio arrives refrigerator cold. But the accompaniments are fine, from roasted peppers to peppery arugula to ample shards of nutty Parmesan cheese. The dish could work without the beef.

Il Bacco generally does very well with pastas. The capellini primavera has a seasonal lightness and is a mellow, pleasing choice. Rigatoni Siciliana is heartier stuff, awash in tomato sauce studded with chunks of eggplant and mozzarella.

Gnocchi are airier than you'd expect, in a gutsy sauce of tomatoes, basil and mushrooms. But linguine with white clam sauce must have been rushed, with strands of pasta that are ante-al dente, or hard enough to spear the shellfish.

Red snapper alla Livornese is a savory version, with olives and capers. Likewise, the sizable grouper steak marechiaro, in a snappy scarlet sauce, flanked by scallops and shrimp. A trio of soft-shell crabs meuniere has the right crunch and a sweet, buttery undercurrent cut with a shot of lemon.

One of the tastiest dishes is calamari, sauced with an aromatic and addictive combination of raisins, pine nuts, olives and tomatoes. The squid is very good. But the terrific sauce would elevate almost any catch of the day, and boost veal, beef and pork, too.

The juicy, grilled veal chop has heft. You can enjoy it unadorned or topped with a winey saute of portobello mushrooms. An alternative: veal chop Milanese, gilded and accompanied by a chopped salad, for a hot-cool contrast.

Chicken scarpariello is prepared with flair. The cuts of chicken are on the bone. A solitary fennel sausage adds to the harmony, and a splash of vinegar gives the whole affair a zesty edge.

Il Bacco prepares a frothy and foamy, Marsala-sweet and high-octane zabaglione, poured into a wine glass of strawberries and raspberries -- sure to put you in a good mood. Two cannoli, with bits of chocolate in the rich cream, also deserve your attention and commitment to calories.

Italian cheesecake is moist and creamy; tiramisu, overly sweet. There's the obligatory tartufo, here the ball of vanilla-and-chocolate ice cream, served sliced.

But for a genuine burst of nostalgia, you'll be tempted by the tortoni, with its coverlet of almond crumbs and hint of booziness, all held in the paper cup of memory.

Il Bacco is a steady, friendly place that has special appeal these days.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 4/27/03.