Long Island Restaurants

Almarco

In October, when I first ate at Almarco, a pretty Huntington restaurant wedged into an oddly configured space, the warm decor impressed me a good deal more than the somewhat generic Italian cooking. Had I not learned that someone new was in charge of the kitchen, chances are I wouldn't have returned.

When I did, it didn't take long to clue into chef Joe Orlando's talent. He had me at the .bruschetta. One taste of a bracing topping of chopped beets and preserved lemon and I knew that this guy had powers. Two other mixtures piled onto crostini -- a sweet eggplant caponata and a blend of white beans, diced red onion, pecorino cheese and Italian parsley -- offered confirmation.

So did a Napoleon of flaky phyllo dough and wild mushrooms unified by a woodsy brown sauce. The "winter" salad -- a toss of marinated string beans, sliced beets, leaf lettuce, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and a horseradish .vinaigrette -- had surprising panache. More so, I thought, than a roasted red pepper salad that combined greens, apples, almonds, roasted peppers, Gorgonzola and a roasted pepper vinaigrette.

If there's one idiosyncracy here, it's an overemphasis on roasted red peppers. Since the owners' previous restaurant was called the Roasted Pepper Cafe, it's an attachment that goes back a few years. A nicely executed roasted pepper puree accompanied a saucer-size jumbo lump crab cake, the kind one wouldn't be surprised to be served in a restaurant on Maryland's eastern shore.

Roasted red pepper sauce turned up again as the foundation for a chicken scallopini "tower." I initially scoffed at the idea of an architectural construct of boneless fried chicken, mozzarella and roasted red peppers, but in Orlando's hands, the dish came off surprisingly light-textured and harmonious. A special of veal cutlet stuffed with a combination of pecorino Romano, roasted zucchini and red roasted peppers was also lighter and more compelling than anticipated. It came with a very good risotto cake, crisp on the outside, gooey within. On another visit, a special of grilled marinated skirt steak with wild mushrooms boasted tender, deeply flavorful meat.

Orlando's gnocchi (usually presented as a special) were meltingly light. I had the little semolina dumplings in a simple basil and tomato sauce and felt deeply contented. I was pleased, too, with the linguine vongole, al dente pasta topped with tiny Manila clams in an appealing garlic and white wine bath. A friend's rigatoni Soprano -- made with broccoli rabe, garlic, oil, chopped tomatoes, Italian sausage and toasted bread crumbs -- bore the same name as a dish I'd sampled when the restaurant opened, but Orlando's vibrant version both transformed and elevated it.

For dessert, crème brûlée worked on the crème front, but since someone forgot to caramelize the top, it was hardly brûlée. Flourless chocolate cake with freshly whipped cream, while lovely, was eclipsed by a citrusy lemon tart -- a simple showstopper from a chef whose cooking continues to redefine a restaurant.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick, 2/23/07.
joan.reminick@newsday.com

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