Antonio's on Empire Boulevard across from the Sony/Loew's theater complex used to be called the Doll House when it was a mob hangout. I've driven by it hundreds of times but never really noticed it which is hard to believe now that I've been there. The front of the building looks like what Disney would do to an Italian Restaurant in one of their theme parks.

We were seated by Antonio. He gave us a choice of waiting twenty minutes to sit in the no smoking section or immediate seating in the smoking section. We chose the smoking section and I asked if "we had to smoke." Antonio kept a straight face and said, "No, you don't have to smoke." We ordered a carafe of Chianti and we tried their lasagna and the eggplant parm. They were OK. There was a soldier in army fatigues at the next table talking on his cell phone for about twenty minutes straight. He was headed off to duty somewhere, swept up in the current military escalation. He left and it was pretty relaxing.

This place is called Marie's now. Steve Greene sometimes plays there. Hope it lasts. Heard it was good.