Palmer's American Grille

Mainstream in the extreme, the friendly new restaurant has broad appeal and a welcoming style. Edgy as a beach ball, it's a relaxed late-summer stop and should warm up the fall, too.

The dining room, awash in light neutrals, is as politely appointed as anEthan Allen showroom. Vintage photos of Farmingdale provide personality. Golfers may go for the Pebble Beach and Bethpage Black pictures. In appearance, it's certainly the most formal eatery in the shopping center and the immediate vicinity.

But an easygoing staff ensures that pretty much anyone will feel comfortable here on any day. They're attentive, good-natured and not killing time before the next audition.

You'll enjoy a starter of seared lump crab cakes, on greens and finished with a mild red-pepper aioli. The "colossal shrimp martini" also is a dependable opener. Likewise, the crisp fried calamari, with a red sauce that's not quite as angry as advertised. And a meaty, grilled and sliced portobello mushroom arrives with baby greens, fried polenta and a sweet-tart balsamic vinaigrette.

Baked clams oreganata, however, are a bit overdone and chewy. Baked artichoke hearts deliver a slightly metallic aftertaste. Onion soup: salt shock. Lobster bisque, on the thin side, could use more contact with the shell.

Salads do double-duty as appetizers. The namesake combo includes caramelized onions, roasted walnuts, sun-dried cranberries and field greens, in a vinaigrette boosted with Gorgonzola cheese. Toasted hazelnuts enliven the arugula, endive and goat cheese salad.

Pastas aren't the kitchen's strengths. Fettuccine carbonara is billed as adding prosciutto, pancetta, onions and peas to "a creamy Alfredo sauce," upending two classics at once. Gnocchi get stuck in a three-cheese sauce of fontina, mozzarella and Parmesan. You're better off with rigatoni all'Amatriciana.

The top main courses are tender steaks. A special garlic- and pepper-rubbed rib-eye leads the group, along with the respectable, marinated porterhouse and skirt steaks. Pork tenderloin has a sweet raspberry-cherry demi-glace that doesn't mask its toughness.

Broiled sea scallops are plump and tasty in a beurre blanc spiked with green peppercorns. They don't need the puff pastry crust. Sesame-crusted tuna, which is fast-becoming the stuffed flounder of this decade, rosily swims by, spurred by wasabi mayo.

Ahi tuna, with a teriyaki vinaigrette, appears in a wrap at lunch. The scallops and skirt steak are available midday, too, along with the crab cakes and shrimp cocktail.

Some New York flavor comes in via Junior's cheesecake. And the geography of dessert extends to New Orleans with an earnest spin on bananas Foster; and to an overcooked quarter of France for the crème brûlée. The apple crumb cake and raspberry-almond tart are routine.

You depart assured that there's not a trend in sight.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 8/20//06.