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Aqua Blue Restaurant in Roslyn evokes sea and sky on a sparkling day. Walls are painted azure, furnishings are of pale wood; hues of aqua, white and cobalt blue punctuate the spacious dining room. Walk out onto the deck and inhale the soft evening air. Check out the lively bar scene. It's hard to believe this is the refurbished old house in Roslyn that once housed the restaurant Taverna, not a chic resort on a faraway island.
The most refreshing aspect of this new dining spot, though, is the affordably priced menu of its young and talented chef, Matthew Gavzie. Most entrees are less than $20. Service is unfailingly cheerful and upbeat.
Complimentary bruschette arrive first, each small toast topped with a bright melange of chopped tomatoes and scallions. To start, you may want to order the grilled hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, ruffled at the edges and pleasingly smoky. An authentic Italian fritto misto of fried scallops, shrimp and calamari came topped with fried parsley, accompanied by - and needing nothing more than - a wedge of lemon.
I liked the clams Posillipo, fresh mollusks bathed in a zesty tomato-garlic broth. But I thought that chopped tomatoes were out of place in the market salad, which also included field greens, goat cheese and walnuts. Then again, I think tomatoes, which exude water, are out of place in most lettuce-based salads. Cucumbers, too. Both were present in the otherwise bright and piquant Mediterranean salad with red onions, Calamata olives and feta cheese.
I had no quibbles about the crisp-skinned, juicy, pan-roasted free-range chicken, a half bird served with garlic-whipped potatoes. Gavzie put an ingenious twist on chicken scarpariello (skin-on pieces braised with sausage, peppers and onion) by sprinkling the cooked crumbled sausage over the chicken, insuring a bit of sausage in every bite. Veal Barmani, made with sun- dried tomatoes, mushrooms and Marsala wine, was finished with a shower of goat cheese, which, surprisingly, didn't overwhelm the dish. A friend who ordered the potato-crusted lemon sole with pepperonata and basil oil thought the crisp exterior eclipsed the subtlety of the white fish; I disagreed, enjoying the textural contrast.
Gavzie's delicate spinach and ricotta ravioli came draped on the plate like so many small handkerchiefs, finished with a gloss of sage butter sauce. They should not be missed. And even though the fiery penne arrabiata sampled on my first visit is no longer on the menu, it's worth requesting.
For dessert, the tiramisu proved light, creamy, boozy. Blood orange sorbet put a sprightly exclamation point on the evening.
And, yes, they take reservations.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
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