La Bussola: Old school in Glen Cove saves the day

I'm always a bit exasperated when I make plans to go out to dinner with the older Italians in our family. They will only eat Italian food at Italian restaurants. And not tapas-Italian, or fusion-Italian or any other newfangled Italian.

The dinner has to follow a specific protocol: First, an antipasto, like fried calamari; then a primo, perhaps an orecchiette with broccoli rabe, followed by a secondo, a good veal scaloppine, for example. If there’s room, and there always is, a dolce, like a ricotta cheesecake. Double espresso to follow.

The problem for me is respect vs. expansionism. Would a little escargot with Gorgonzola polenta and truffle oil kill these old-schoolers? And if I do hew to their unchanging tradition, there’s the added stress of being responsible for finding the kind of restaurant that fits the bill — that we haven't been to a hundred times before.

The last time I faced this challenge, we ended up at La Bussola in Glen Cove, an oldie but goodie where the entire meal went according to the time-honored road map. I was able to veer a bit off course with my homemade fusilli, sauced with duck confit and mushrooms. But even though I found the menu lacking a progressive sensibility, the beloved elders were fully aglow, confident that what they always knew to be good could not be improved upon.