Jersey, Tomatoes

I always like to go to the Ritz movie theater in New Jersey because it’s so comfortable. While there, one can make a quick stop at Target, pick up a bottle of wine at one of the neighborhood’s many wine shops, and head around the corner for a meal at Laceno Italian Grill.

Just like in Florida, where you can find the best restaurants tucked away in strip malls, so it is in Jersey, where nearly every mall holds some little treasure. When you enter the newly redecorated restaurant, you are instantly aware of its local popularity. Families are all over the place, greeting the owner, asking for their favorite waiter, asking if so-and-so has been in yet -- you know how it is in a neighborhood hangout. Since no one knows us, we can look around in peace, observe the spacious rooms with glowing peach walls, hung with Italian prints, and the extensive brick trim. Owner Luigi Basile has opened a restaurant in Philadelphia (more on that in a moment), but this is his flagship.

With our first sip of wine, tomato and onion bruschetta arrive. (How I love a giveaway.) The first thing to catch our eye is the large vegetable appetizer: It contains an abundant selection of marinated eggplant, shiitakes, peppers and zucchini, all grilled before their immersion in a mix of balsamic vinegar, oil and herbs. As if this were not enough, there is also a big dollop of tasty caponata and slices of egg frittata. It is exactly the sort of vegetable anitpasto that you would expect to find in any town in Italy.

The restaurant offers many salads but we are told that we must have the focaccia Laceno, one of the house specialities: white pizza strewn with tomatoes and lots of garlic. Everyone loves it, and although the crust is admirably crisp and tasty, it is a bit too garlicky for me.

Another daily special is fusilli pasta tossed in a thick tomato sauce, bursting with shiitakes and small chunks of filet mignon. The gnocchi in tomato sauce is tender and light, but dims beside this hearty fusilli dish.

Laceno is known for its large variety of fishes -- orato, black sea bass, pompano, striped bass, Dover sole and branzino. We choose the Dover sole for two, which the waiter deftly debones at tableside before anointing the firm, white flesh with a sauce of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and parsley. Scalloped potatoes and spinach (with large cloves of garlic in it, so at least I can remove them) are accompaniments -- good, but unnecessary.

After this huge meal, dessert is unthinkable. Besides, it is the usual assortment of cannoli, etc., so we do what no self-respecting Italian would do and finish with a cappuccino. With it comes deliciously crisp fennel-and-orange biscotti.

As Laceno is to South Jersey, so will Radicchio, Basile's new cafe, be to Philadelphia. Standing bravely on a fairly desolate corner of Fourth Street, it has the inevitable French doors and dark woodwork that could be found in any Florentine trattoria. Within there are rust-colored walls and fixtures and ceiling fans. Pottery plates decorate these walls and the tables are marble-topped, the kind that resonate when a cup of espresso is placed upon them. All the waiters are Italian-speaking, and if they seem a bit harried, it is probably because the restaurant is newly opened, and, since they take no reservations, they're not sure of the crowd.

They open our first wine for us, and we start right in on the grilled vegetable appetizer that we had liked so much at Laceno. This has the same requisite vegetables, marinated in balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and herbs, but it comes with a ricotta crostino on the side. Sometimes I think I could eat grilled eggplant and shiitakes with every meal. But then I might have to forgo the insalata di mare, which is quite stellar here. Squid, scallops, shrimp, mussels and clams all star in this production of perfect timing and perfect dressing -- everything tender/crisp and glistening with lemon juice and virgin oil. It's a jewel of a salad. Radicchio gives its name to another splendid salad -- this one made of sauteed radicchio and shiitakes with balsamic vinegar and smoked mozzarella melting all over.

For the pasta course we opt for linguine del mare, mainly because they handled the seafood so well in the insalata. We get shrimp, scallops and arugula, tossed with fresh tomatoes and oil and garlic gilding the linguine, and find it fresh as a breeze, but strangely lacking in flavor. There's plenty of flavor in the rigatoni amatriciana; the marinara sauce is zingy with pancetta, onions and Romano cheese and coats the pasta perfectly.

Nothing fills me up faster than pasta, but there's still room for a lovely, simple chicken breast sauteed with garlic, capers, white wine and lemon juice. This is an example of Italian cuisine at its best -- uncluttered presentation and top-quality ingredients. Another simple dish has lately become my bellwether for judging Italian restaurants -- can they do a true cotoletta Milanese? At Radicchio, they can. A pounded tender veal chop almost covers the plate, only lightly breaded and sauteed, and topped with a salad of fresh tomato and arugula.

We taste a few desserts, but typically, are blown away by none of them. There's a decent chocolate chip cannoli, banana cream pie and profiteroles with custard filling -- all above average, if it's dessert you crave. I myself crave an espresso, and another opportunity to have dinner here, and see if success spoils Radicchio, or if it maintains an even keel like its parent, Laceno, in Jersey.

Radicchio
314 York Ave. (entrance on Fourth St., between Vine and Callowhill), 215-627-6850
Appetizers $5-$10. Entrees, $10-$20
Lunch, Mon.-Sat., 11:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Sun., 2:30-10:30 p.m.
Wheelchair accessible. No smoking. No reservations. BYOB. VISA/MC.

Laceno Italian Grill
Echelon Village Plaza, White Horse Road, Voorhees, N.J., 856-627-3700
Appetziers, $8:50-$10:50. Entrees, $10:50-$31:50
Lunch, Mon.-Sat., noon-2:30 p.m. Dinner, Mon.-Fri., 4:30-10 p.m., Sat. 4:30-10:30 p.m., Sun., 4:30-9:30 p.m.
Wheelchair accessible. No smoking. Reservations suggested. BYOB. All major credit cards.

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