Salute! In Citta Oh, What A Relief!

XX Salute! in Citta, Vance Hotel, 606 Stewart St. Southern Italian. Lunch and dinner ($5 to $17; same menu) 11:30 to 2 p.m. daily and 5 to 10 p.m. nightly. Pizzas and salads ($5.50 to $7.50) 2 to 5 p.m. Full bar. Major credit cards. Nonsmoking area. Reservations (six or more) 728-1611.

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Salute! went uptown. Or downtown. Certainly TO town.

I know that because my Italian goes way back. Years ago, when I was driving around Italy with one or another of my ex-wives, we'd arrive at some pretty little town, peer at the map, and ask one another: ``Where the heck are we?''

``There's a sign,'' she'd say.

``What does it say?''

``Fermata Citta.''

``Cute place.''

Twenty miles down the road, we'd go through the same routine. And what's the name of THIS town? ``Fermata Citta.''

It took me several hundred miles of bilingual frustration before I got up the nerve to ask an inhabitant of one of the Fermata Cittas what it was.

``City bus stop,'' he said.

Salute! not only expanded its Ravenna operation to the citta, they placed it within three blocks of the bus station.

For that, several hundred regular patrons - many of whom ride buses - are in deep gratitude. It should take some of the seating pressure off of the original Salute! (3410 N.E. 55th St.) and it's upscale spinoff, La Dolce Vita, a couple of doors east on 55th.

If nothing else, the newest Salute! (it's a toast, like cheers!) will make the Southern Italian cooking of Raffaele Calise and Stefano (Steve) Williams available to a wider audience.

It is not distinguished cooking; it was never intended to be. But it is hearty, generous, aromatic and flavorful food offered by a staff dedicated to hospitality overkill. Few restaurateurs in the history of this city have done more to make one feel like a long-lost paisano - or a single woman suspect she is about to be invited into marriage, or better.

The menu here is larger than at the first two places: Twenty pasta choices ($7 to $14.50), five chicken variations ($8.50 to $15) and another 10 treatments of veal ($10 to $16). Half of the menu is printed - the same for lunch or dinner - and the other half are specials printed on a large blackboard affixed to the west dining-room wall.

For some reason, the chalked-in specials average $5 more than their printed counterparts. I don't know why. The quality, portions and sophistication of both seem equal.

You can choose from seven appetizers ($2.50 for Minestrone to $7.50 for a nice Insulata Caprese (fresh mozzarella, basil, tomato, olive oil with scissor-cut French rolls). Or there is a good, but not great, Antipasto Misto ($6.50) with the quality varying from day to day.

But the best starters are the pizzas. About nine inches in diameter, they are a perfect size for a lunch with a salad, or shared by two for an appetizer.

The crusts are exceptional and Calise has been somewhat secretive about the ingredients. But I know a couple of his countrymen who make very similar pies. They use fresh yeast (rather than dried), a semihard flour (a Fisher Montana-Dakota wheat blend called Mondako), water and very little else.

The result is a springy, rather than dense, chewy crust. Toppings vary from plain crushed tomato (too generously applied) and basil ($5.50) to Con La Salcissia (tomato, cheese and sausage) for $7.50. Two of the best are the plain Al Pesto ($6) and Con La Cipolla (just butter, onions and cheese, also $6).

There are 10 authentic Italian pizzas available. None with pepperoni. None with Canadian bacon. None with pineapple.

The pasta dishes are all very satisfying; large, full oval plates of spaghetti, ravioli or fettucine. Most tend to be overwhelmed by their sauces, especially the tomato-based sauces. Recent platters of Spaghetti Puttanesca ($12.50) and Arabbinata (same price) tasted almost identical, except for the capers and black olives (domestic) in the former.

If you want something more differentiated, try the Fettucine al Salmone ($8.50), with smoked salmon, peas, shallots, brandy and cream.

I can recommend Scaloppine alla Milanese (the Italian equivalent of a Wiener Schnitzel ($10.50) and the Vitello Noli-Pistachio ($15.50), the latter prepared with cream, brandy and pistachio nuts.

Also impressive was a large serving of Veal Valdostana ($13.50), done with mozzarella, prosciutto, tomato and Parmesan cheese.

The best of the chicken dishes we sampled was Pollo ai Pinoli ($8.50), a fragrant, moist and tender breast of chicken covered over with a creamy pesto sauce doted with pine nuts.

Vegetables appear to be an afterthought, usually a combination of sauteed, chopped squashes and celery.

Salute! in Citta has a pleasant central bar, with lots of blond wood and assorted flags tacked up over head. If the new Salute! draws the crowds the old one did, you may spend more time waiting under those flags than you intended.