01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 9, 2006

BY MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer

CRANSTON -- On a friend's recommendation, we dined at L'osteria, part of the city's unofficial "restaurant row" near the intersection where Cranston Street meets Park and Phenix avenues. We liked it so much that we were back two weeks later to sample more of chef Brian Ruffner's inventive menu and to do a review.

Ruffner previously was the chef at the Bay Voyage Inn in Jamestown, coming to L'osteria last May, and his hand is evident in the revamped menu at L'osteria, which has been around for about 13 years.

In what other restaurant, Italian or otherwise, will you find Gnocchi & Scallops on the menu?

"I added a lot of things to the menu," said Ruffner, reached by phone the day after our visit. "I like to give people as many options as possible.

"I've always really enjoyed cooking seafood. I once worked for an Italian restaurant whose owners had lived in Rome and there, every Tuesday and Friday were fish days."

My dining companion, who was brought up in a big Italian household, can't pass up gnocchi whenever it appears on a menu, and the idea of having them paired with scallops, another favorite, proved irresistible on our first visit. The Gnocchi & Scallops ($17.95) won raves, the slightly doughy dumplings making for a surprisingly happy marriage with sweet, tender sauteed scallops in a fresh tomato sauce that was spiced up with saffron, pignoli nuts and basil chiffonade.

Meanwhile, I thought: Why have chicken picatta or pesto or marsala, when you can opt for Chicken Under a Brick ($16.95), one of the house specialties?

Billed as a "grilled marinated boneless breast," it was actually three flattened boneless breasts served over braised white beans, sun-dried tomatoes for a little zip, big slices of porcini mushrooms for earthiness, chili flakes for zing, garlic and herbs. It was a luscious combination, but proved to be too much for one sitting, even though I wasn't going to have dessert.

Littleneck clams in a broth ($8.95) are a staple on many menus, Italian and otherwise. But Ruffner serves the roasted littlenecks in a big bowl with a light tomato-based sauce brimming with minced pancetta. There were only five clams swimming in this red sea, but the sauce was so delicious that we ordered more crusty Italian bread beyond the garlic grilled toast that comes with the appetizer, greedily sopping up every last morsel of the tangy pancetta-laced sauce.

The dense, slightly chewy house Italian bread, by the way, is not only perfect for sopping up whatever sauce is served with the appetizers or entrees, but is also delicious with the dipping sauce that's brought to the table at the start. The dipping sauce is a heady blend of olive oil, mashed white beans, roasted garlic and red pepper flakes, briskly combining the many flavors without being overwhelmed by any one of them.

A welcoming place

L'osteria means "hostel" in Italian, a welcoming place to stop, as owner Mario Macera puts it. And he seems determined to live up to the name, warmly greeting customers at the door and making them feel as though they're old friends, even if it's their first visit to his restaurant.

It's a tiny place -- just 12 tables seating maybe 40 comfortably on black wooden chairs whose padded seats wore out their comfortability well before dessert arrived. But it's charming, an old storefront with white walls, a white tin ceiling, and deep red floor tiles that run up the sides of a low wall that separates the dining room from the bar, which takes up a good third of the place on its own.

An L-shaped shelf, stretching from the bar along a wall and around to one of the two big front windows, can accommodate more diners -- or those sipping drinks while waiting for a table -- on tall chairs. Paintings -- some large, some small -- of Italian scenes hang on the walls.

San Francisco popped up somewhere in our conversation and I thought: Yes, with its clean lines and casual ambience, plus its mix of Italian and seafood menu items, L'osteria reminds me of the little storefront restaurants you can find on the trendier streets of the City by the Bay.

The only drawback here is that the front door opens directly onto the street, which can make for some cold gusts such as when, on our first visit, a party of 12 departed all at once.

Pancetta-wrapped shrimp

We had such good memories of the roasted littlenecks on our first visit that we decided to stick with seafood, at least through the appetizers, even though one of my favorites, carpaccio of beef, beckoned. But we wanted to try something new and different this time, too.

Most of us have had scallops wrapped in bacon, but Ruffner's take on that is pancetta-wrapped shrimp ($11.95). It was as impressive to see as it was an out-of-the-ordinary combination. Three jumbo shrimp wearing jackets of pancetta, the Italian bacon, stood poised over a mound of white beans in a ragout of diced tomatoes and truffle oil, all topped by a headdress of arugula chiffonade. The pancetta was crisp without being overcooked or greasy, its saltiness working well with the sea taste of the shrimp.

It was a tossup as to whether we liked the shrimp better than the scallop sautee ($10.95), or even the roasted littlenecks of a fortnight before. The five fat sea scallops arrived in an oval dish in a creamy caciotta cheese sauce over pennette pasta (mini penne). Ruffner said it took him a while to come up with the right pasta for the dish -- so long, in fact, that the menu had to go to the printer before he could decide. So the menu just says "pasta" in its description.

There are bits of mushroom in it, too, along with a dusting of what Ruffner calls "l'osteria bacon bits." It's finely minced pancetta which, after having the fat rendered, is combined with dry, unseasoned bread crumbs. It gives the dish an interesting crunchiness.

What with the scallops and cheese, the dish was sweet and creamy, laying to rest the old rule that one does not serve cheese with seafood, at least in an Italian restaurant.

"It's something I slipped under the radar," Ruffner says with a chuckle.

Traditional cioppino

My dining companion had a glass of Due Torri Pinot Grigio ($7), which seemed the perfect choice to accompany the shellfish. I decided on just a glass of water with a slice of lemon. Our very efficient and helpful server, Janice, kept on top of the water situation, promptly refilling the glass throughout the evening whenever the water line got down to about the one-third mark.

For an entree, I chose the Traditional Cioppino ($19.95). This classic seafood stew made with fresh tomatoes and herbs featured a hearty mix of shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels and calamari, a big slice of scrod sitting in the middle. A thick slab of garlic oil grilled bread sat on the sidelines of the bowl, a tasty accompaniment to the mildly spicy (but not overreachingly so) stew.

Good as the grilled bread was with the cioppino, it could only go so far. And so more of the regular Italian bread had to be recruited to help dredge up the remainder of the yummy sauce, just as it had been called on two weeks earlier to finish off the roasted littlenecks.

My companion chose the Carciofi e Funghi with veal ($17.95; also available with chicken for $14.95). Slices of veal were pounded thin and then cooked to tenderness in a brown sauce with sliced artichokes and three kinds of mushrooms. The artichokes lent their mellow tang to the dish, while the mushrooms brought their rich duskiness -- a perfect choice for a cold winter night.

It was served with a mound of fresh whipped potatoes and a mix of sauteed julienned carrots and zucchini that added just the right eye appeal. Tasty, too.

Grand finale

Janice said that of the several desserts, the tiramisu and cannoli were made in house.

My companion, a tiramisu lover from way back, went with that and was surprised at how extraordinarily light and creamy it was. This was a big brick of a piece, espresso-soaked ladyfingers covered with layers of sweet mascarpone cream, all dusted with chocolate powder.

The tiramisu ($7) won applause, even from this non-coffee drinker. With the chocolate powder it was more mocha- than coffee-flavored. I even had a second bite!

I chose the Frutta di Bosco, a combination of raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and currants atop a pastry crust, because the fruit made it sound healthy and the Bosco sounded like a chocolate flavoring that was advertised on TV when I was growing up.

With sprinkles of powdered sugar and drizzles of raspberry sauce framing the big slice on a white plate, and with a grand dollop of mascarpone cream placed at the top with a flourish, it certainly looked festive. It tasted festive, too, the berries blending their sweet-tart flavors in a way that was very pleasing.

It was a grand finale to a meal that offered an array of delights.

mjanuson@projo.com / (401) 277-7276

Details, details

L'osteria, 1703 Cranston St., Cranston. (401) 943-3140. Dressy casual. There is a low step at the front, but a little ramp is available if necessary. Reservations are accepted; recommended on weekends. Highchairs. AE, DIS, MC, V. There's a small parking lot behind the building as well as marked spaces on the side. Tuesday to Thursday 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.; to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday and Monday reserved for private functions; private luncheons available. Appetizers $6.95 to $11.95; entrees $12.95 to $22.95; grilled pizzas $9.95 to $12.95. The wine list is $6 to $8 by the glass; $18 to $95 for a bottle.

BILL OF FARE

Dinner for two at L'oseteria might look something like this:

Glass of Pinot Grigio . . . . . . . $7

Pancetta-wrapped shrimp . . . . $11.95

Scallop sautee . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.95

Veal carciofi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.95

Cioppino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.95

Frutta di Bosco . . . . . . . . . .. . . $6.50

Tiramisu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . $7.00

Total food & drink . . . . . . . . .. $81.30

Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $6.49

Tip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16.21

Total bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . $104.00

THE MENU

This restaurant's menu:

projo.com/food/menus/