Any bowl of spaghetti in a storm

Not to be disrespectful in any way to those of you who ate peanut butter and jelly by candlelight for dinner, and I know there are lots of you, but the forces of  post-Sandy wound up serving me a beautiful hot meal last night at Luigi Q in Hicksville.

I had to search around a bit for it. After I left the office in Melville, I thought I'd just ride around Nassau County a little to see how the restaurants were faring. Most had no power, but every place that was lit in the Plainview-Hicksville area, and there were lots of them, had lines out the door or people crowded in their foyers. Couldn't get into Brasserie Cassis, or Ayhans Mediterranean in the Plainview Centre. Every diner and deli and pizza parlor in that little patch of lit-up Long Island was jammed.

But Luigi Q, which Newsday has awarded three stars, had tables free and Luigi Quarta meeting and greeting at the door. He served up pure comfort: pureed asparagus soup, sauteed zucchini and a powerful bowl of spaghetti pomodoro. While table after table of diners were loudly obsessing about the power outage, Quarta danced around the dining room, gracious host, soother of nerves, comforting with food.

My last thought as the meal wound down: There's no place in the world I'd rather be.

Luigi Q is at 400B. S. Oyster Bay Rd., Hicksville, 516-932-7450.

Spaghetti pomodoro at Luigi Q