Marinara

About this time of year, when all appears to have reached its bleakest, you begin looking for signs of new life. Such as a crocus cracking through the earth. Or a new restaurant. Bright, sunny and cheerful, filled with a spring-like promise of bounty. And guess what? I think I found one. It's called Alfio's. It's in Glenside, and it's only a month or so old. The place is named for Alfio Gaglianese, probably no stranger to many of the area's restaurant-goers. He was for nearly two decades the gracious and suave maitre d' of the DaVinci restaurant.

What do you get a governor who has everything? Just about anything, from a yoga mat to a top hat to a ceramic rodent figurine - not to mention cases of marinara. In his first year in office, Gov. Rendell received more than 600 trinkets from well-wishers from Erie to Exton, according to an administration tally. Rendell took in so much stuff in 2003 that he has devoted a room in the governor's mansion to store it all. By the governor's estimation, "the gift room," as he calls it, is already 85 percent full - with more than 2 1/2 years left in his first term.

Company description: Subway's "fresh take on Italian. Juicy chicken, zest-errific pepperoni, and our signature recipe marinara sauce toasted with melty cheese on your favorite freshly baked bread. Molto buona!" Chain: Subway. Calories: For a foot-long, 900 calories, 30 grams fat, 150 mgs cholesterol and 2,500 mgs salt. Yikes. Location: 1701 Ben Franklin Parkway. Order time: Three minutes. Price: $6.75. Review: This is an interesting idea for an unhealthy sandwich that would be worth the grief with better ingredients.

Cent'anni - the Italian toast to life that translates as "100 years" - seems to have about as many pronunciations as there are glasses of wine in a liter. So when people talk about the South Philadelphia restaurant with the same name, you never know how it is going to sound. North of Snyder Avenue, it seems to be john-don. South of Snyder Avenue it comes out something like chen-dahn. In Italy, it's more like chent-AH-nee. "Even I didn't pronounce it correctly when I first saw the name," admits owner-chef Paul Buck.

It had only been two days, and the locals just weren't used to the idea. Cassano's, a favorite Cherry Hill Italian restaurant that catered to families, had changed its name to Jac Daddy's and was in the midst of becoming a sports bar. The bar area was expanded, the menu tweaked, the interior faintly retooled. Although vestiges of the old Cassano's still remained - like the black-and-white photos from "The Godfather," and other gangster flicks - it just wasn't the same. The biggest complaint, which we heard from booths on either side of us, was that the chef was no longer serving family style - platters large enough to feed a crowd.

After Ristorante Roma opened in South Philadelphia several years ago, there were times when it was impossible to walk in off the street for a weekend dinner. Reservations were a must. But fame can be as fickle as the weather. One day a restaurant is turning you away at the door, then suddenly it is the one rejected. I had received a number of phone calls inquiring as to what had happened to Ristorante Roma. All I can report is that, indeed, it has vanished, and that it has been replaced by Ristorante Ghizzano, which opened about eight weeks ago. Ghizzano, which takes its name from a city north of Rome, looks pretty much like the old place, but there are some small differences, among them that it's brighter and a little less formal.

Excellent Italian cuisine in a warm, elegant setting makes Ristorante Ferretti, the newest restaurant in the Chesterbrook development, a lovely place. Even in an area with a surfeit of good Italian restaurants, this wonderful Wayne restaurant stands out from the crowd. Ferretti opened just before Thanksgiving, replacing the equally delightful Marcello Ristorante Italiano. In a remarkable circumstance, this is the third excellent restaurant in one little corner of the Chesterfield Shopping Center.

Tre Figlio is a warm, friendly, earnest little restaurant where the waiters lean on your chair to recite the specials and where folks at nearby tables will tilt back to say, "Hey, that looks good. " Almost everything at Tre Figlio looks good and tastes good. The cheerful atmosphere compensates for the minor flaws. The room is L-shaped, bent around a bar with impressive brass railings. Although the ceilings are low, Tre Figlio is not noisy. Our first visit got off to a shaky start, with mussels marinara ($6.95)

Pastabilities on 22nd Street near South opened about a year ago - just after I moved out of the neighborhood, unfortunately. They are more than welcome to open a branch office in my new one. This tiny take-out place is crammed with sheets of fresh pasta to be cut to your preference - angel hair, linguine, fettucine or whatever. A pound will serve four for dinner, and you can pretend you're eating at Liberties in Northern Liberties or Carolina's off Rittenhouse Square. Those are two of the restaurants that buy pasta from Pastabilities.

For excellent southern Italian dishes at modest prices, Dolce Carini Ristorante Italiano is hard to beat. The family restaurant opened a year ago in the Village at Newtown Shopping Center on the former Goodnoe Farm site. As affirmation of its success, it is expanding into the adjoining storefront. "We just can't handle the crowds," a family member said. Considering the quality, generous portions and friendly service, it's easy to see why. An appealing appetizer of exceptionally tender, lightly floured fried squid ($4.95)

Sometimes failure can end up tasting pretty good. It certainly was the case with these meatballs. I'd been aiming to create a solidly delicious, all-purpose meatball suitable for tossing with marinara over spaghetti. Except it didn't quite work out that way. The meatballs, while certainly delicious, were both too tangy and too sweet to pair with your basic pasta sauce. And they certainly didn't agree with the mandatory Parmesan that spaghetti calls for. So I tried them in a curry sauce.

Company description: Subway's "fresh take on Italian. Juicy chicken, zest-errific pepperoni, and our signature recipe marinara sauce toasted with melty cheese on your favorite freshly baked bread. Molto buona!" Chain: Subway. Calories: For a foot-long, 900 calories, 30 grams fat, 150 mgs cholesterol and 2,500 mgs salt. Yikes. Location: 1701 Ben Franklin Parkway. Order time: Three minutes. Price: $6.75. Review: This is an interesting idea for an unhealthy sandwich that would be worth the grief with better ingredients.

WITH SO much talk about Pizzeria Stella, at Head House Square, it seemed time to head on over and find out if this upper-crust pizzeria was the real deal, or just blowing smoke from its wood-burning oven. In my mind, few starters stimulate the appetite better than prosciutto from the San Daniele region, so an order ($10) went in before we even made our pie choices. One of the characteristics for preferring this cured ham over Prosciutto di Parma is that it is slightly sweeter, less salty, and the texture is softer.

WITH SO much talk about Pizzeria Stella, at Head House Square, it seemed time to head on over and find out if this upper-crust pizzeria was the real deal, or just blowing smoke from its wood-burning oven. In my mind, few starters stimulate the appetite better than prosciutto from the San Daniele region, so an order ($10) went in before we even made our pie choices. One of the characteristics for preferring this cured ham over Prosciutto di Parma is that it is slightly sweeter, less salty, and the texture is softer.

These are the questions that have dogged me during these dog days of summer: Is it better to make tomato sauce in a skillet or a stockpot? Should the tomatoes be peeled and seeded first, or simmered intact? Do carrots and celery belong in a true marinara? Is it overkill to add meat? Butter or olive oil? Can this sweet but pulpy fruit really be transformed into the velvety glory of the Italian table in just 30 minutes, or must it bubble lazily for hours? If I had an Italian grandmother, the answers would no doubt be encoded in my DNA. Perhaps if I had married into an Italian family, I might at least have access to an unimpeachable source.

What do you get a governor who has everything? Just about anything, from a yoga mat to a top hat to a ceramic rodent figurine - not to mention cases of marinara. In his first year in office, Gov. Rendell received more than 600 trinkets from well-wishers from Erie to Exton, according to an administration tally. Rendell took in so much stuff in 2003 that he has devoted a room in the governor's mansion to store it all. By the governor's estimation, "the gift room," as he calls it, is already 85 percent full - with more than 2 1/2 years left in his first term.

A real Italian eatery? Start with a great name.? Add a great-looking host belting out Italian songs throughout the restaurant. Carlucci's Grill had me from the minute I was seated among this BYO's carefully planned decor. Despite paintings of the old country and a waitstaff that's from there, however, this isn't the Italian restaurant one might expect. Don't get me wrong - what Carlucci's serves tastes authentic and good. The grill's strong suit, though,?is in Americanizing traditional Italian dishes and vice versa.

Off Manayunk's Main Street, a block up from the clotted traffic, Ristorante Amore flashes its stuff like a colorful beacon on an otherwise dark corner. In another life, about three years ago, it was primarily a third-floor nightspot that Lori and David Salvo called the Cotton Club. These days it's a solid contender on the neighborhood's fashionable dining scene. The restaurant took shape five months ago, when the couple decided on an art-deco dining makeover for the first two levels of the building, along with a downstairs bar and second-floor martini bar. The upper level still operates as a club Wednesdays through Saturdays.

New restaurants often attract huge crowds as soon as they open, but few can match the astonishing response to Vinny Testa's, the terrific new Italian American restaurant in the Wynnewood Square shopping center. Although open only since July 1, this first regional branch of a successful Boston chain is drawing such huge crowds that a nightly 90-minute wait for a table is normal. The reason is understandable, for the restaurant offers mountains of tasty, reasonably priced southern Italian dishes presented in a grandiose, beautifully decorated dining room that used to be a movie house.

Excellent Italian cuisine in a warm, elegant setting makes Ristorante Ferretti, the newest restaurant in the Chesterbrook development, a lovely place. Even in an area with a surfeit of good Italian restaurants, this wonderful Wayne restaurant stands out from the crowd. Ferretti opened just before Thanksgiving, replacing the equally delightful Marcello Ristorante Italiano. In a remarkable circumstance, this is the third excellent restaurant in one little corner of the Chesterfield Shopping Center.