LI Italian restaurants serving up lighter cuisine

Monkfish roasted with sweet peppers, artichokes and spicy tomatoes at... — Monkfish roasted with sweet peppers, artichokes and spicy tomatoes at Verace in downtown Islip. Credit: Steve Pfost

By PETER M. GIANOTTIpeter.gianotti@newsday.comJune 11, 2014

The calendar calls for the lighter side of Italian cooking. Here are three restaurants that know it well.

DODICI, 12 N. Park Ave., Rockville Centre

This downtown mainstay sends out satisfying carpaccio, beet-and-goat-cheese salad; a grilled eggplant-mozzarella-tomato pizzette and another with spinach, speck and fontina; cannelloni in meat sauce; orecchiette with sausage, broccoli raab and olives; and chicken scarpariello.

SOTTO SOPRA, 231 Main St., Amagansett

Very Hamptonian and pretty good, too, Sotto Sopra is a stylish little place. Try the pizzas, pastas, finfish. Linguine with clams and spaghettini with shrimp in a modestly spicy sauce, the Margherita and "picante" pizzas, and oven-roasted swordfish are tasty choices.

VERACE, 599 Main St., Islip

Dine alfresco, weather permitting, and enjoy Verace's cheeses and salumi; sweet Gorgonzola, mozzarella and pear pizza; focaccia with rosemary and sea salt; gnocchi in Taleggio cheese sauce; maltagliati pasta Bolognese; shrimp fra diavolo; and, at lunch, the four-cheese panino.