Great Italian dishes like Pasta Carbonara and Risotto present a quandary to restaurant chefs because they don't 'hold'; they must be cooked to order and served immediately. Carbonara, a melding of bacon, mushrooms, cream and cheese is wonderful if served just blended and hot but turns into a sticky mess if held under a heatlamp or in a steamtable. Risotto is an ephemeral dish of arborio rice slowly braised in stock that requires contant stirring to achieve its trademark creamy consistency. As a result, we seldom see real versions of these dishes on restaurant menus.

Which brings us to Bacco on Park near Goodman , a small restaurant where they seem to have figured out how to deliver these classics in classic form. Crowded, often full of egotistic males and lacking a full bar, Bacco wouldn't have much to recommend except that the food is true continental Italian in a town where Italian food really means Sicilian-American food with its heavy red sauces and gobs of mozzarella. If you haven't experienced the light flavor machinations of norhern Italian, I recommend Bacco.