Don Antonio’s

Housing prices continue their big, splashy and painful cannonball, and job security is an oxymoron, but a hermit wouldn't have known any of that if he'd come out of his hovel to observe Don Antonio's on a recent weeknight.

It didn't take us long to understand why the joint was jumpin'. The atmosphere was pleasant, the service was great and the food was what we look for in an Italian restaurant, because while the classics were there, there also were a few surprises tossed into the mix so the whole thing wasn't painfully predictable.

Like the Veal Aubergine ($18.99) which pairs veal with eggplant, spinach, prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella and marsala. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn't it? It did to us, too, but you'll notice I didn't say we actually had the Veal Aubergine. That's because they were out of veal that evening, and that was a disappointment. But I'd rather a restaurant run out of something like veal occasionally than keep a big icy block of it in the freezer for months on end, slicing off portions with a scary electric saw.

And so instead we decided on the Chicken Breast Dore ($14.99), which was rigatoni with chicken chunks. And maybe doesn't sound all that exciting, but the thick, creamy Parmesan sauce that coated the pasta and chicken wasn't a garden-variety, dumbed-down Alfredo but clearly carried the essence of the cheese, which is sharp and mellow and nutty and earthy, all at the same time. Toasted bread crumbs sprinkled on the top added a simple, delicate crunch.

Speaking of which: How simple could a starter of roasted red peppers ($6.99) get? They were homemade and tasted it, the peppers soft but still firm, their olive-oil-and-garlic bath a very complementary one. This was an example of letting well enough alone, to barely adorn good, fresh produce to preserve the straight-from-the-earth goodness.

Stuffed mushrooms ($8.99) were firm as well and filled with a mixture based on bread crumbs and seasoned by the sainted Italian duo of garlic and olive oil. The menu said there would be cocktail sauce on the side, but it was actually marinara, which was a really nice foil for the mushrooms and a plus in that it gave us a chance to sample the lifeblood of an Italian restaurant. This blood was so rich that we'd consider a red-sauce standard the next time. (With maybe an old-school stove-top pot of espresso ($5.99), which is definitely something we don't see every day.)

This time it was not to be because the fettucine carbonara ($9.99, or $11.99 with chicken or $14.99 with shrimp) was calling our names. I learned to make pasta carbonara eons ago via a wandering Italian expat, and it's become a go-to weeknight supper in our house -- a simple dish of eggs and good Parmesan clinging to the pasta, tossed with pieces of bacon, properly pancetta. This was more than that -- so much that I wouldn't call it a carbonara, but then again it was a very tasty dish. It was actually a sort of creamy sauce, lightly flavored with Parmesan and both thinner and much more abundant than in a conventional carbonara, with a lot of mushrooms and peas mixed in.

Wine service was a little unusual in that when we inquired about it, our waitress told us there was no list, but that they had wine by the glass. A little at a loss, we asked for glasses of chianti, which seemed like an obvious choice, and it was a fairly typical, decent enough wine. And not served in water glasses.

Service was fine throughout, our waitress initially stopping by to apologize that she'd be delayed getting to us, and then pretty prompt throughout the rest of the meal. The decor was simple but attractive enough, with red-and-white-checked laminate tabletops a whimsical nod to the checked cloths of old-school Italian neighborhood restaurants.

Which Don Antonio's both is and isn't. And being able to walk that line is part of what makes it special.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella @reviewjournal.com.