This is the most elaborate, best-managed, and most appealing Italian restaurant on either side of the island, coping gracefully with a cosmopolitan, international crowd. It was established by a seasoned Italian restaurateur, Raymond Losito, whose career included a 25-year stint at a French restaurant in Washington, D.C., where he developed a deep attachment to the Washington Redskins football team, whose banners and memorabilia decorate the walls of the restaurant's bar. It's a great watering hole, outfitted in the colors of the Italian flag, and drawing a fervent crowd of fans for U.S. football games.

Meals are served on a large, rambling wooden veranda that the owners bravely refurbish after hurricanes. It serves the best blackened tuna we've ever had, as well as grilled portobello mushrooms, mussels in white wine sauce, fresh Chilean sea bass or fillet of sea wolf cooked in parchment, fillet of grouper with prosciutto, and a worthy version of lobster risotto. The pastas are superb. There's an especially worthwhile version of sea bass baked in rock salt, prepared for a minimum of two diners.