1100 New York Ave. NW (202) 371-0595 Hours of Operation and Prices Lunch: M-F 11:30-2:30; Entrees: $8.25-$14.50 Dinner: M-Th 5:30-10:30, F-Sat 5:30-11:30, Sun 5-10; Entrees: $12.50-$22.50 Pre-Theater: Daily 5:30-7, $18.50 Other Information • Credit Cards: All major • Reservations: Recommended • Dress: Casual • Parking: Street • Nearest Metro: Metro Center • Handicapped accessible

It's a restaurant full of energy, with flames crackling in the wood-burning stove and cooks working at full tilt in an open kitchen. Cheerful waiters in brightly patterned vests serve with considerable zest. And in addition to the printed menu, there's a two-page list of daily specials and a wine list that has an endearing Italian selection at prices that make you breathe a sigh of relief.

It's not a restaurant, however, where I would concentrate on the pasta. The menu is heavy on ravioli, and those ravioli have a stolid thickness and meager filling. The dishes that tempt me are the light and adventurous ones. An appetizer of frittata wedges - thin omelets of onion and artichoke - is piled on shredded arugula with a tomato salad that's even delicious out of season. And salmon breaks away from boring, repetitious, grilled fillets to be served here in crisp-edged, sauteed chunks, with other chunks of carrots offering a teasingly close contrast of color and texture, on a pool of dark green spinach sauce so vivid it takes your breath away. Even the everyday menu explores more than the usual veal and chicken: goat stew, duck in garlic sauce, and, instead of the usual sausage, one made from chicken. Or you can order grilled fish, the usual and unusual pizzas, even the inevitable veal Milanese and tirami su.