Like The Early, Good Ol' Days ; Salute Reconnects With Its Passionate Roots

------------------------------- RESTAURANT REVIEW

# # 1/2 Ristorante Salute 3426 N.E. 55th St., Seattle ($$) Reservations: (for parties of six or more only) 206-527-8600

Hours: Dinner only, Monday-Thursday 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

Prices: starters, $2.25-$8.50; entrees, $8-$17.50 -- Full bar -- Credit cards: AE, MC, V -- No obstacles to access -- Parking: on street ------------------------------- More than a decade has passed, but I remember eating at Salute for the first time. A trio of gal-pals and I were seated in front of a poster from Verdi's "Rigoletto," all tragic-comic with its harlequin mask and vivid blood stains. We were flipping out over a new taste sensation, tiramisu, when our waiter stopped to ask what we thought of dessert.

Incredible, we told him. Then, in mock-horror, I begged, "Can't you do something about that poster?" Shaking his head, he put his hand on his heart and said, in an Italian accent thick as tomato paste: "You have been around American men for too long. That is not the blood of violence! That is the blood of passion!"

Passion. There was a time when Seattle was passionate about Salute. A time when the line to get in was an hour long. Back before every neighborhood had a casual, fun-loving Italian restaurant of its own. Back when tiramisu was still a big deal.

Much has changed since chef Raffaele Calise and his brother-in-law, Stephen Williams, opened Salute in 1984. The restaurant expanded; then spawned La Dolce Vita, an upscale sibling a few doors away. Calise opened Salute in Citta in the Vance Hotel (since closed), and later helped start La Buca in Pioneer Square. He now owns Salute of Bellevue, having long ago left the original Salute (which has sinced moved into the old La Dolce Vita space on the corner), in the hands of his ex-wife and her brother. They sold the place a year ago.

New owners

The passion is back, thanks to new owners Gao Le and Toner "Tony" Eren, who have been part of the Salute family from its inception. If you're looking for the "It" Italian restaurant of yesteryear, you won't find it here. Instead, you'll find two guys with Salute in their blood who are crazy about the restaurant and passionate about winning the hungry hearts of their immediate neighborhood.

Le started as dishwasher, learned to cook Italian at Calise's elbow, continued cooking here in his absence, and today offers a menu that closely mirrors the original. Eren also started washing dishes, was promoted to busboy, waiter, then manager. Ask how long he's been here and he'll tell you, "Since I was in diapers!" Today he acts as host, greets neighbors by name, waits tables and never so much as breaks into a sweat, even on an unusually busy Sunday night that catches him - and a sole server - by surprise.

Expect the soothing croon of Sinatra as you enter past a small bar and an antique sideboard bearing colorful platters of marinated vegetables. Overhead, weathered rowboats and other fishing-village paraphernalia add artful clutter, nodding to Calise's native island, Ischia, in the Gulf of Naples, and subtly encouraging you to opt for seafood.

Squid yes, squid no

Calamari marinati ($8.50), dressed with garlic, lemon and pesto and served chilled, failed the quality-control test with a Boing! Boing! The squid fared better tossed with tomato sauce and shellfish in a straightforward and satisfying spaghetti di mare ($16.50). I saved my lid-flipping for the smoked-salmon fettuccine ($11.50). Dotted with peas and flecked with salmon, this signature sensation offers restraint with the salt and a subtle, brandy-laced cream sauce.

Among the nightly specials is another cream-sauced pleaser: Gorgonzola-stuffed ravioli with prosciutto ($14.50). Less pleasing was a grilled rib-eye steak ($17.50), whose heavy-handed "cabernet sauce" was, in a word, gravy. Chicken and veal standards include scaloppine alla Milanese: a fine, if perfunctory version of the classic lemon-spritzed breaded veal tenderloin ($14.75). Like all entrees, it comes with Caesar salad or minestrone. But unlike the Old Days, when your waiter - in order to turn tables faster - frequently "forgot" to bring this complementary course, you actually get the soup or salad.

Don't leave without ordering a pizza ($8-$10). Try the quattro stagione, sectioned into four "seasons" and fight over who gets the woodsy boletus mushrooms, the olives, artichokes or anchovies. Everyone wins with the crust, which is thin on the bottom and chewy at its lip.

You know what I had for dessert (yes, it's still great). And you know that I looked for "Rigoletto." My passionate heart bleeds violently when I tell you this: It's gone. Nancy Leson's phone number is 206-464-8838. Her e-mail is nleson@seattletimes.com