Nonna Maria dishes up platefuls of romance

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At Nonna Maria, there is no Italian grandma in a floury apron busily rolling dough. Instead, there is her grandson, Roberto Davico, his Venezuelan-born wife, Oana, their 6-month-old daughter, Camilla, and a Russian-Argentinian chef by the name of Fernando Grodsinsky. If you're thinking therein lies a tale, you're right.

At heart it's a love story. Roberto and Oana met in Paris. Within weeks of their wedding, he found himself living in Seattle, where she was finishing up her degree. Armed with his grandmother's recipes, Roberto and Oana started a business producing pasta under the Nonna Maria label, and soon many of the finer Italian restaurants in town became their customers. The couple envisioned adding a small retail establishment where they could sell their pasta, along with a few specialty grocery items and wine, and offer a simple menu of prepared food mostly geared for takeout.

Nonna Maria 530 First Ave. N., Seattle. * * ½ $$ Reservations: 206-378-0273. Italian Hours: lunch 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Prices: Lunch appetizers $4-$6.50, panini $6-$7.50, entrees $6-$8; dinner appetizers $5-$9.50, entrees $10-$18. Parking: on street or in pay lot behind restaurant. Sound level: Subdued enough for romance. Beer and wine only / major credit cards / no obstacles to access / no smoking.

The cafe-cum-retail shop opened last May, but the liquor license didn't come through until December. By then, the steam tables built into the yellow tiled countertop had proven impractical for the kind of fresh food the couple wanted to serve. So they were covered neatly with linen and now display baskets of groceries that, along with the hardwood floors, exposed beams and elegant little wine bar, give the restaurant a chic, simple Italian charm right out of the pages of Martha Stewart Living.

Now that Nonna Maria is a full-fledged restaurant, service is the one noticeable weak spot, and Davico knows it, recently bringing in an experienced restaurateur, Marco Casasbeaux, to oversee the front of the house. Since chef Grodsinsky arrived in March, expanding the dinner menu with more entrees and hot appetizers as well as a daily fresh sheet, the kitchen is in good hands.

Antipasti are as proudly displayed as the family photos. This gorgeous array of meats and marinated seasonal vegetables is created fresh daily. You select from among imported prosciutto, mortadella and salami, tiny whole artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and asparagus, and the chef comes out to personally arrange your choices on a wooden plate ($6.50 small/$9.50 large).

Add a glass of wine from the small but growing all-Italian list (you get a generous pour) and a basket of La Panzanella bread, and you will be tempted to cry "basta."

But to miss the pasta would be a shame. The noodles are uniformly fabulous, cooked with reverence and sauced judiciously. Squid-ink linguine ($14) is at once briny and earthy in a cream sauce flecked with bits of asparagus and whole bay shrimp. Five thin sheets of pasta provide delicate scaffolding for ethereal lasagna primavera ($6), layered with thinly sliced carrots, asparagus and translucent rounds of zucchini bound by a silky béchamel and accented on top with fresh tomato sauce. Fettucine holds its own in a lush Bolognese sauce ($10) made with tender ground beef and veal studded with carrot and onion.

Though he hails from Argentina, Grodsinsky spent three years cooking in Genoa. Exercising commendable restraint and balance with top-notch ingredients, he wisely keeps things simple. A bit of prosciutto adds flavor, a few bread crumbs add body to white wine, garlic and parsley bathing tiny Manila clams ($8). A ruffle of cheesy, soft polenta is the only flourish on a plate of fork-tender lamb shank braised in tomato sauce spiked with nebbiolo wine ($16).

We experienced few glitches like the too-sweet balsamic broth that sits like an oil slick on Penn Cove mussels ($8). Far more deftly handled is the light, aioli-laced tomato broth that moistens clams, prawns and mussels for cacciucco ($18), a seafood stew similar to bouillabaisse.

In Grodsinsky's best efforts, no single ingredient dominates, everything works in concert. No less than a symphony of bitter, salt and sweet results when grilled, marinated radicchio, cloaked in prosciutto (not pancetta as the menu foretold), meets a complex balsamic reduction.

And if that's not enough to make the most jaded diner's heart go pitter patter, then try filling your mouth with fragile crespelle ($6), crêpes wrapping caramel cream, while listening to the plaintive notes of "Al Di La," strummed by classical guitarist, Enrique, who entertains here at night on Wednesdays and some weekends.

If you weren't in love when you arrived, chances are you will be by the evening's end.

You can reach Providence Cicero at providencecicero@aol.com.