From a list of 10 pasta dishes offered either as an appetizer or entree, homemade lasagna ($3.90 and $7.50) - a generous portion of firm pasta layered with ricotta and slathered with tomato sauce enriched with ground beef and sausage - made a wonderful first course. Ziti and asparagus ($3.90 and $7.75) was slightly overcooked pasta with firm chunks of green asparagus in a well- made tomato sauce; sprinkled with parsley, it was a good dish that cried out for a few twists from a pepper mill.
Rich, home-cooked minestrone ($1.50) was oil-touched broth chock-full of baby lima beans, peas, fresh tomato, carrots, pasta, white beans, corn, onions, green beans and shreds of beef. Hot garlic bread ($1.25), redolent of garlic, was drenched with melted butter.
Dinner began with a complimentary dish of moderately spicy green chili peppers in oil, a real taste treat, and a wicker basket of crusty Italian bread with commercial butter tubs.
A salad of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, grated carrots and red cabbage and peeled cucumber rounds was notable for its crusty, homemade croutons - and the little chunk of ice hidden beneath the greens to keep them chilled.
Main dishes were equally delightful, particularly veal saltimbocca ($12.95), which was three delicate cutlets topped with prosciutto, fresh mushrooms and a slice of mozzarella and enrobed in a robust Madeira sauce. It came with a medley of carrots, peas, corn and green beans. Scallops Avanti ($10.25) offered tender deep-sea scallops and fresh mushrooms sauteed in brandy and light cream and served atop al dente cappellini, the delicate angel hair pasta.
A crisp, ricotta-stuffed cannoli shell ($2.75) was a pleasant dessert, but no match for a large, molded baba au rhum ($2.75) soaked with rum and dusted with powdered sugar. Seldom-found zeppole (also $2.75) was a fried doughnut puff filled with ricotta and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.
The espresso machine was broken the night I visited, but good coffee (60 cents) was served in a clear-glass mug.
Service was exceptionally friendly and attentive.
The relatively small dining room is prettily decorated with lace cafe curtains and tables with burgundy padded table covers set with white linen napkins, a white picnic candle and a bouquet of dried baby's breath and red silk carnations; popular music played softly in the background.
Welcome, Avanti.
AVANTI
496 Lancaster Ave., Berwyn, 640-3877.
Open: Lunch scheduled to begin tomorrow, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; dinner 4:30-10 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., until 11 p.m. Fri. & Sat. Closed Sun.
Price range: Appetizers average $4.25, entrees $13.
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard.
Nonsmoking section: No.
Facilities for handicapped: Yes.
Atmosphere: Unpretentious.
