That's Amore's The Spot For Pizza, Pasta Lovers

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XX 1/2 That's Amore, 1425 31st Ave. S. Italian ($) Lunch and dinner ($6.25-$14.95) 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday. Beer, wine, major credit cards. No smoking. Reservations for six or more and takeout: 322-3677. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Should the moon hit your eye like a big pizza pie . . . pray that it's a 12-inch "Mt. Baker" doused in a tart tomato sauce, speckled with wild mushrooms, bits of goat cheese and topped with pesto.

That's Amore.

Pizzas and pastas, topped with everything from goat cheese to jerk seasonings, go to the heart of this new Mount Baker Ridge cafe. You'd have to visit 20 times to work your way through the lineup, not counting a quartet of entrees and a few nightly specials. And judging from the lively crowd that filled all 45 seats on a recent Wednesday night, more than a few people are off to a good start.

With a baker's dozen oil-cloth covered tables, cheery yellow walls, and a street-corner location with a sweeping view of downtown Seattle, That's Amore is attracting a loyal following of locals who have gone too long without a neighborhood place to call their own.

"When we found this spot we fell in love with it because it has a great view," says Salina Hailey Gray. Gray, 26, a former insurance saleswoman, opened That's Amore with husband Celester, 35, two months ago after their research confirmed the neighborhood's appetite for a casual restaurant.

Thai, Jamaican influences

Celester Gray, who has managed Benjamin's Restaurant on Lake Union, the Spirit of Washington dinner train, Cucina Cucina in Kirkland, and two Romeo's pizza parlors, is not a cook. And neither the Grays nor their chef, Peter Miranda, is Italian. But their interpretation of some traditional Italian dishes hits the mark more often than not. Variations on others are globe-spanning combinations that take the tastebuds on a detour to Thailand, Jamaica and Greece.

We asked for a table in the back, ordered a bottle of Rocca Delle Mace Chianti Classico ($15.95) and admired the view at sunset. With so many tempting pasta combinations, our group of four skipped over the antipasti platter ($6.95) and shared an order of Tortellini Con Pesto ($8.95) as a starter. The melt-in-your-mouth pillows of spinach, tomato and egg cheese-filled tortellini in a pesto butter sauce with sun-dried tomatoes went fast, leaving us to finish off a platter of bread while waiting for salads. Olive oil seemed like a better idea than the little pats of Glenview butter wrapped in gold foil, so we asked, and our waiter returned with a cruet of extra virgin.

The Grays want people to feel as though they're getting their money's worth, so portions are big. The half Caesar ($3.95) - light on the garlic, seven big anchovies - is more than enough for one.

Generous-sized pies

Pizzas are big enough for two. The goat cheese-laden "Mt. Baker" ($10.95) is one of five pies classified as "nuove" or "new" as opposed to a quintet of "traditional" sausage and pepperoni offerings. Cracker-thin crusts, glazed on the bottom with olive oil, are the canvases for creations such as the "Vegetali" ($9.95), a colorful medley of diced roasted eggplant, mushrooms, Kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. "The Jamaican" ($10.95) is four-alarm firepower - a base coat of barbecue sauce topped with mozzarella, jerk seasonings, scallions, chicken and little rounds of fennel sausage.

I first visited That's Amore on the recommendation of a friend who, after several trips, has yet to make it past the Rigatoni Bolognese ($6.95). Understandable. This rendition of a classic dish is not your average pasta and meat sauce. A quarter of the heaping bowl of lightly sauced pasta topped with grated Parmesan and sweet fennel sausage went home in a paper container. Another regular customer I know keeps coming back for the Fettucine Pietro, a tasty combo of roasted chicken and veggies in a lemon pepper cream sauce.

Standard entrees include two chicken dishes, prawns and a marinated T-bone grilled with garlic and olive oil. My vote goes to the Pollo Peppino ($11.95), a smooth and tender grilled breast bathed in a not-too-rich marsala cream sauce.

A trio of desserts includes a so-so tiramisu ($4) and seasonal berry shortcake ($3.75). Tugging at the childhood heartstrings is the "Risotto e Marshmallow," a dolled-up Rice Krispie treat drizzled with warm chocolate sauce ($2.50).

"It was my idea," laughed Salina. "Our research showed that there are an awful lot of families in the area. It was actually a joke, but I bet it would be one of our bestselling desserts, that even the adults would order it, and they do."

Times restaurant reviewers visit restaurants anonymously and unannounced. They pay in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. They do not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.