Homemade comfort

By Sheryl Julian, Globe Staff  |  February 17, 2005

In the world of mom-and-pop restaurants, points are given for little things, primarily so this genre of eateries will continue to flourish. Mom and pops function differently than upscale restaurants with generous budgets, and you have to cut these smaller establishments some slack. That said, we sing Amelia's praises for homemade pastas, bread baking on the premises, and their own pizza dough. Not everything hits a bulls-eye, but enough of the food does to make this a delightful stop.

Delio Susi began the 28-seat Amelia's 10 years ago with his wife, for whom the restaurant was named. Both are from the Abruzzi region of Italy. Amelia oversaw the kitchen and made her family's recipes. Last December, she passed away suddenly, and now her husband and son, Delio Susi Jr., 31, are continuing her culinary traditions.

One is her incredibly light potato gnocchi with spinach, which arrived in a brown pottery dish in a creamy Alfredo-style sauce. The simple potato, flour, and egg dumplings were feathery. "We call them 'little pillows,' " says son Susi, who dashes back and forth between his own place, the four-year-old Amelia's Trattoria, in Kendall Square, and his parents' establishment. "I'm like a traveling chef," he says.

What he's trying to do is take over his mother's role. "My mother was cooking all the specials until she died," he says. The two would talk about what they wanted to make after seeing what was in the market. Alas, the specials are priced just above the $15 Cheap Eats ceiling. But who would be drawn to an entree of the fish tilapia when you could eat gnocchi and arancini?

A delectable arancini was shaped from saffron risotto into an orange-sized ball (arancini comes from "arancio," the Italian word for orange), deep-fried, and served with a light marinara sauce. Beef and peas were the surprise filling inside this Sicilian specialty. Unusually crisp calamari, coated with a polenta batter, were divine with a spicy red sauce. Their bed of greens was delightfully fresh, as are all the salads here. Amelia's very good lasagna Abruzzo was thin and light, the way lasagnas are made in Italy, without an overpowering filling of meat and cheese.

But the antipasto and its generous portions of rolled-up meats seemed ordinary. Penne pesto, with a homemade basil sauce, was uninspired. Marinated grilled steak tips were similarly unremarkable, and prosciutto panini with fresh mozzarella tasted as though it had never seen an oven.

A splendid mushroom pizza with fontina, on the other hand, was earthy and loaded with fungi. The plainer tomato and cheese Margherita was less exciting. This is a good-quality dough, which would be even better baked longer.

So the place marches on without Amelia, which is admirable. Tweaks here and there would make her proud.