When Pinziminio played it simpler, the results were more satisfying. Classic beef carpaccio brought rare slices of sheer tenderloin beneath lemony olive oil and peppery greens. The steamed littlenecks were memorably tender and briny. The meatballs were a toothsome blend of beef, veal and pork. There is also a catchy house-made rendition of that Pennsauken pizzeria standby - the panzarotti - a deep-fried calzone stuffed with prosciutto-flecked ricotta. My favorite savory item was the most pleasant dish of all, a flaky baked cod over polenta and a chunky tomato sauce tingling with spice.

The evening's highlight, though, were the ricotta zeppole for dessert. These crispy puffs of freshly fried dough coated my fingers with honey while I tried to eat them hot, and I polished them off just as the sun was setting over the bay.

 

Joe Italiano's Maplewood II

At the end of our stay at the Jersey Shore, I have a tendency to linger and take the slow road home. So this was not the first time I'd raised a curious eyebrow at this unassuming roadhouse on the Black Horse Pike with a sign out front claiming the "World's Best Spaghetti." It sounds like a dubious boast, considering that the Maplewood II, like the fraying Black Horse Pike itself, is a relic from a faded era.

By all appearances, it is essentially a bare-bones Italian diner, with a droopy drop ceiling, plastic grapevines, and a picture of Venice framed on its stenciled gray walls. It serves an unpretentious crowd - big boisterous families, biker couples, and, behind us, a trio of old men who settled in with a bottle of cheap Chianti.

But Joe Italiano's turned out to be full of pleasant surprises, beginning with the fact that the owner really is a guy named Joe Italiano, the 74-year-old son of Neapolitan parents who founded the original Maplewood Inn (that's No. I) in Hammonton in 1946. The Italian immigrants who settled in that agricultural town were "home-style cooking people," he said, "so when they came into my restaurant, I felt honored."

And Italiano has rewarded those patrons with a commitment to home cooking that is unheard of at this modest price point. The pastas and raviolis are still made in a cellar by Italiano's sister, Angelus Esposito, and are never precooked. Every beefy meatball is seared to order in a cast-iron frying pan before getting dunked in red gravy that simmers daily for at least five hours.

The most notable specialties, though, are the "natural juice" white seafood sauces that Joe Italiano was among the first to popularize in South Jersey. Unthickened, they have a deceptively watery look. But they are pure flavor, steeped from the seafood cooked for each individual dish. The popular "Joe's Special," for example, brews the essence of clams, mussels, crab and conch.

But I found the approach most impressive with the simplest combinations - like the plump shrimp and broccoli that cook together over garlicky wine and butter. And there was also the "Cousins," a generous pairing of picked lobster and crab created by Italiano's son, Tom (who helps runs the Maplewood II with sister Linda), and his cousin, also named Tom. At $24.95, it's one of the menu's most expensive items, but the portion is so huge I didn't think I'd finish. With some hot pepper flakes scattered on top, however, I couldn't stop eating until it was gone.

Was it the world's best spaghetti? Only Sinatra, I think, could say for sure. But there must be some reason I'm craving another trip down the Black Horse Pike right about now.

 

---

Italian flavors down the Shore

Chef Vola's

111 S. Albion Place, Atlantic City, 609-345-2022. You need to know a Vola regular to snag one of the 12 tables in this unmarked, 87-year-old cellar restaurant, but the huge crab cakes, house veal sausage, chops, and personal service are worth the effort.

Dinner Tuesday-Sunday, 6-10 p.m.

Entrees $12.95-$55.95

Cash only.

BYOB.

 

 

Patsy's

Atlantic City Hilton, Boston and the Boardwalk, 609-340-7585; www.hiltonac.com. The upscaled red-gravy cooking is adequate, but the new casino branch of this New York institution feels more like a gussied-up hotel banquet room than the character-filled institution that was "Sinatra's favorite restaurant."

Dinner Sunday-Thursday, 5:45-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, until 11 p.m. Bar opens an hour earlier.

Entrees $20-$48.