Arturo's

Worcester's loss is Westborough's gain. A great Italian restaurant returns.

by Margaret LeRoux

Arturo's Ristorante 54 East Main Street Westborough 366-1881 Hours Lunch Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner Mon.-Fri. 5-10 p.m. Sat. 5-11 p.m. Major credit cards Full bar Handicap accessible

Arturo's is back. That's good news for fans of this upscale northern Italian restaurant and pizzeria that closed in Worcester some months ago. Arturo's has found a spacious new home in a former drug store in Westborough. But it's only 10 minutes east of Shrewsbury Street, so don't pout, Worcester, it's worth the trip.

We arrived early on a Friday night; even so, the wait was almost an hour. Reservations are only taken for groups of six or more. The small bar area includes four booths; we could have eaten there but chose to wait a bit longer for a booth in the large, main dining room. Meanwhile, we enjoyed glasses of a Chilean chardonnay by Veramonte ($5.95) and a New Zealand sauvignon blanc by Nobilio ($5.50). A smaller, cozier dining room (which features the same menu) in back, looked very appealing; but the wait was even longer to get a table there.

The main dining room is big and airy, with one wall devoted to wood-fired pizza ovens and the kitchen. We saw six cooks at work, including Arturo himself. Walls are a soft golden color with accents of mossy green, rosy terra cotta, and butterscotch. The playful pyramid shapes in the upholstered booths complement the angular, bright-colored light fixtures. A glass pastry case near the door tempts waiting diners with gorgeous, multi-layer cakes and tortes. As you enter the dining room, you encounter a heavy, oak table laden with platters of marinated vegetables, salads, paper thin slices of prosciutto and wedges of melon; it's hard to pass on antipasto here.

Our energetic, upbeat waitress quickly appeared; since we'd had time to review the menu in the bar, we were prepared. Veal and seafood were our targets, so we stayed with the white wines, though there are several appealing by-the-glass selections of reds.

We had a hard time choosing among wood-roasted mussels and clams with tomato, garlic, and green onion ($6.50); patatine fritte, which are hot, garlic potato chips ($3.50); pan-seared crab cake served over a roasted corn, tomato, and red onion salsa ($6.95); or grilled marinated jumbo shrimp served with white Tuscan beans ($8.95).

Then there are little pizzas with creative combinations such as melted fontina cheese topped with mixed greens in balsamic vinaigrette ($6.95); shrimp, scallops, and crabmeat ($8.95); and, for the potato lover, garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, and mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese ($6.95). Next time, we promised each other, we'll try the pizzas.

This time we chose to share pan-seared sea scallops with cherry tomatoes and wilted greens drizzled with lemon olive oil ($6.95). We also selected one of our favorites from Arturo's in Worcester, a salad of field greens and gorgonzola cheese with walnuts ($4.95).

The four, large scallops were perfectly seared, still soft and tender on the inside with just a bit of crunchy crust. The acid bite of the grilled cherry tomatoes offset the slightly bitter taste of the greens. Just a hint of lemon in the olive-oil topping; this was definitely an appetite teaser. The salad was even better than we remembered, with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Reading Arturo's menu will make you hungry; everything sounds so good. There are eight different pasta and risotto selections from cheese tortellini ($10.95) to a mixture of seafood in spicy tomato sauce ($14.95). Crispy chicken cooked under a brick ($12.95) or marinated, grilled turkey chop ($13.95) are two imaginative choices I intend to try on another visit.

I was set to try a vegetarian specialty: tortino di ortaggi, layers of roasted eggplant, zucchini, peppers with a parmesan béchamel sauce ($11.95). But I changed my mind after our waitress described the evening's special: blackened striped bass with cucumber orange salsa ($16.95). What a pleasing dish this was. The fillet was blackened just enough to be spicy but hadn't reached that burned stage that's served all too often. Because striped bass is a stronger-flavored fish than sole or halibut are, it stands up well to the seasoning. I was happy to taste bass not just spices. The cucumbers were long, paper-thin slices draped over the fish with colorful bits of fresh orange and red onion peppering the plate. A thick slice of grilled bread supported the fish, providing an edible base.

My companion selected quattro stagione ($16.95), veal scallops layered with tomato sauce and diced eggplant, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese. These were thick pieces of veal, not the thin slices you'd expect. But the veal was certainly tender enough to cut easily. Alongside were two risotto cakes -- creamy Arborio rice pressed together and sautéed, giving depth and texture to a dish that's become ubiquitous. Arturo's is ahead of the trend here. Risotto is popping up everywhere, and few restaurants do it well. Completing the plate was a mound of sautéed fresh spinach, so tasty we wish more places offered this green.

The dessert tray contained lots of temptation; we shared a slice of chocolate cake called Nancy's sin ($4.95). We forgive her, how could we not? It was layers of rich dark chocolate with light-chocolate-mousse filling topped with more dark chocolate.

Our bill was $77.33, including tax but not tip.