RESTAURANT REVIEW / DOMINICK’S : Right Family Recipe for 44 Years : * Don’t expect delicate Northern Italian sauces or prime milk-fed veal. Expect generous portions and family atmosphere.

Talk about a classic Italian Red Sauce Joint, this one must have been around since Year One. It seems I’ve been driving past the storefront location for about that long, and often I would say to myself, “They must be doing something right in that place.”

One day, I stopped in. Drove up in the evening, parked in the tire company lot next door--there’s no parking boulevard in front--and walked into Dominick’s Italian Restaurant. Dominick’s, it turns out, has been at the same Oxnard Boulevard location for 44 years. They’ve been operated by the same family since the beginning--although the present owners, Florence and William Henggeler, took over from an uncle in 1959. The menu and the recipes, they say, are essentially the same as they were in 1949.

By now, you’ve probably guessed that this is no hidden gourmet restaurant. Nor is “every dish a specialty,” as the business card claims. What we have here is your basic American Red Sauce Joint, which offers the house marinara sauce in lots of the dishes, substantial portions, and prices that make it one of the best values in the region.

Dominick’s is a restaurant of woods and wines, with an industrial-type ceiling in the rear, a brick counter separating the kitchen from the dining area, and a seven-seat bar on your right as you come in. It’s a restaurant that seems to be frequented by regulars--people celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary who came here when they were dating.

None of the clientele comes for delicate Northern Italian sauces, or for prime milk-fed veal. They come for the portions, for the value, for the family atmosphere, for some very average food and for some very good dishes.

They are here for the warm, freshly baked loaves of bread--possibly the best Italian bread in the county--that sit on the counter. The loaves are the beginning of the garlic bread ($1.95) that is served at the table.

They do a lot of pizza business at Dominick’s, serving both a thick and a thin crust (basic cheese: $6.15-$8.85). The recipe is the same one they have always used. The thin one, in particular, is excellent; not too doughy, not too dry. Wish I could say equally good things about the sauce, which really does need the accouterments on top and the hot red pepper from the bottle on the table.

The calzone (basic cheese: $5.15) is fold-over version of a pizza--this one with a layer of the sauce on the outside. The version here is well worth trying and has just about anything you might want to stuff inside, including ham, sausage and mushrooms.

There’s no reason to doubt Florence Henggeler when she says that William, the head chef, works from “recipes written in our heads.” The best of these are the casserole dishes. Tops among them may be the eggplant parmigiana ($8.45 dinner), fresh and just tangy enough, baked with mozzarella cheese and the marinara sauce on top.

The vegetable lasagna ($8.45 dinner) is also a winner, with its layers of pasta, ricotta and parmigiana cheeses, egg, zucchini, broccoli and large, succulent mushrooms.

The house mixed green salad, which comes with the dinners, is ample and includes lettuce, fresh mushrooms and other nice touches such as garbanzos and pepperchini peppers. If there wasn’t so much water coming out of the lettuce, I’d like it a lot better.

Chicken Dominick ($8.45 dinner), in a buttery sauce with a bit of white wine and lots of lemon juice, is served tangy and well-seasoned, the sliced chicken breast on top of a giant mound of pasta.

Veal lovers will not be excited. What is billed as a veal steak ($8.45 dinner) seems to be little more than a veal cutlet, the parmigiana version breaded, covered with mozzarella cheese and baked.

You probably could, if you asked, get some of the firm and tasty meatballs on the side, without having them come doused in red sauce. Personally, I think I’d be happier. And I might say the same about the meat ravioli, which are chewy and just meaty enough.

One advantage to a family-run restaurant is that there seems always to be some of the family around. When William and Florence aren’t there, it may be one of the Henggeler sons, Roger, Sean or Brian, either behind the bar or working at the oven. For those who like one of the seven seats at the bar, it may be worth noting that the drinks seem to be best when one of the owners is pouring.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Dominick’s Italian Restaurant, 477 N. Oxnard Blvd., Oxnard, 483-7933. Open Monday-Saturday 3:30-10 p.m., Sunday 2:30-9 p.m. Major credit cards accepted, reservations accepted, full bar. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$26.