RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Usually everyone has their favorite when it comes to Italian restaurants. The neighborhood place is often the one people claim as the best. Maybe it is one they have a fond memory of or that serves a specialty dish.

I am always willing to add another favorite to my ever-growing list of Italian restaurants.

There is my first favorite, which is Micelli’s in Hollywood. It is an old eatery that has Chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling and a piano player who is accompanied at times by waiters who take a break to serenade the crowd.

That place is special to me because my parents went there when they first moved to California from Buffalo, N.Y., in the early ’60s. With little money, it was a treat for them to go there. They exposed my brother and I to it when we were old enough to understand why it is so special.

Now that I have lived in the Huntington Beach area for five years, I have my favorites here as well. Mangia Mangia on Goldenwest Street is one that springs to mind, and Mama D’s in Newport Beach is another.

When I walked into Capone’s I wasn’t expecting to put them on my list. I hadn’t heard much about the place and had actually walked in on a whim.

Owner Dino Ferraro opened the restaurant in 2000 with the idea of it becoming an Italian and French bistro.

The Italian won out and is now the dominant fare on both the lunch and dinner menus.

One of the things I liked immediately about the restaurant was that the lunch and dinner menus are different. Lunch is not just a pared-down version of dinner. Capone’s offerings are almost entirely dissimilar, and that can be good and bad.

It is good because of the variety, but bad because if you like something at lunch, it isn’t available for dinner.

A perfect example is the black tiger shrimp: five pieces of shrimp grilled then sautéed with garlic, white wine and pesto, served atop a slice of lemon.

It is an explosion of taste and one of the best appetizers I have had all year. The shrimp is firm and soaks up the sauce. What sauce was left, I attacked with the piece of ciabatta bread brought earlier to my table.

As I was looking at the dinner menu, the charming Diana, my server, pointed out an appetizer she liked even better than the one I just had. The scampi di parma is shrimp wrapped in prosciutto and sautéed with a garlic and lemon cream sauce.

I got the feeling you wouldn’t even have to be a regular to coax Diana or one of the other staff to make you something at lunch that is normally served at dinner. She was very helpful and sincere.

For my main course I got tube pasta with green and red peppers, red onions, marinara sauce and Italian sausage. The meat was overpoweringly good.

As I scanned the dinner menu I made mental notes of all the entrees I wanted to try, including the cioppino, osso buco and the chicken Marsala. If they are as good as what I had for lunch, and I would be stunned if they weren’t, I will have a new favorite Italian restaurant to put on my list.

CAPONE’S CUCINA

Address: 19688 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach

Phone: (714) 593-2888

Cuisine: Italian

Specialty dish: Chili and seabass; lamb chops; farfalle o’sole mio

Alcohol served: Beer and wine

Dress: Casual

Family friendly: Pasta can be half-priced half portions for kids

Credit cards accepted: American Express, Visa and MasterCard

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER is the Independent’s food critic.