Al Covo

The picture is of Diane and Cesare, the owners of the restaurant. We first went there in 2004 after an e-mail exchange with a friend in NY who said, "Go to Al Covo, introduce yourself to Diane, and have the fritto misto." We did all three and it's become one of our favorite restaurants. Cesare is from the Lido and supervises the cooking of most of the dishes. Diane is from Lubbock, Texas, and makes the desserts, including a heavenly pear and prune tart. If the restaurant is filled with Americans, it's because Diana has so much Texan charm. She can talk with the best of them. Also, she remembers Ira, so we always get some extra sugar thrown our way.

The food is the important thing. We started with a Friulano 2007, nice and crisp and everything you expect from an Italian wine, which is a minimum of fuss and a lot of drinkability. We shared an appetizer, saor with a variety of fish. Saor is a sauce made with vinegar, onions, and raisins and it usually accompanies fish. Here it accompanied four different kinds of fish and a slice of eggplant. Every morsel was delicious, though I didn't have any of the shrimp since Ira cleared that away quickly.

My first course was rigatoni with a pistachio sauce. Ira had spaghetti nero di seppie (squid ink pasta). We traded bites back and forth because they were so good. Ira's was more delicate than usual; it was definitely the nouvelle version of seppie nero. He continued his elegant meal with the fritto misto. There's nothing extraordinary about it, except that it achieves an uncommon lightness. You are encouraged not to put lemon on it, it's so light. I had the costoletta di vitello, and the veal covered two-thirds of the plate.

Dessert was a thick, dark chocolate tort for Ira, and the incredible pear and prune tart for me. The meal was so good, we'll be back Sunday night.