Sunday, February 16, 1997

A LA CART

A Quintessential Island Italian Restaurant - by Richard J. Scholem

Taorimina, in Commack, is the quintessential Long Island Italian restaurant. Situated behind a pizza shop, it is a warm, gracious place that serves gargantuan portions of hearty, uncomplicated Italian soul food at manageable prices.

Youngsters eat pizza while their parents dig into more serious stuff at this upbeat, often crowded and frenetic spot at this rollicking storefront at 34 Veterans Highway in the Commack Plaza-Stern's Center (499-6900).

Its owner is also a partner at the long-estabished and justifiably well-regarded Il Porto Bello, Port Jefferson, and the two are similar in configuration, menu and snappy service.

Speaking of service, our waitress, Kathy (her name was on the check) gets my vote for server of the year, Drop a fork and she is there with another. Finish a glass of bottomless iced tea, and there she stands with a picture full, take home leftover pasta and she added extra sauce to it. It was Kathy who gave us the best advice of the night, "Two appetizers and two entree will feed four here." Right again.

Appetizers seemed overpriced at $4.50 to $7.50 in relationship to entrees, which cost as little as $5.95, until you see the appetizers. Most fill large oval dinner plates and are of main-course dimensions. Many starters, combined with the warm loaves of bread here, provide meal-size quantity. Typical is a heaping plate of eggplant ($5.95) enveloped by a vibrant, fresh basilpulpy tomato sauce. An enormous special of savory sauteed cannellini beans and escarole ($5.95), alive with garlic, was its equal. A somewhat smaller starter, calamari salad ($7.50), was a pristine tangle of celery, olives, garlic chunks and tender calamari rings. But a standard-sized version of tasteless mozzarella and barely pink tomatoes ($6.95) and soggy fried zucchini ($4.50), accompanied by a bland dipping sauce, were letdowns.

If Taormina has a weakness, it is an occasional timidity in its use of salt, pepper and spices. Two under-seasoned entrees that delivered only faint flavor, rigatoni and broccoli ($8.95) and the eggplant parmigiana ($11.50), needed a kitchen to be bold and cut loose. Chicken alla Taormina ($15.95) had no such problems. Its two jumbo chicken breasts stuffed with prosciutto, cheese and peppers, swimming in light brown sauce, had plenty of pep, but the menu did not indicate that the chicken was breaded and fried. Better yet are the shells alla festivale ($10.95), a sturdy dish of al dente pasta, peas, onions, ricotta and fresh tomatoes with husky meat sauce. The price of non-pasta entrees also includes an above-average mixed salad.