Deep flavors of Italy

But Benatti is worth it. It, too, deserves to be much loved. It earns it with its elegantly laconic menu: three antipasti, seven pasta dishes (and one exquisite risotto), five well-turned entrees, and six desserts that are far better than anyone disillusioned by the average Italian-restaurant dolci has hope to expect.

The restaurant is named for chef-owner Andrea Benatti; he and general manager Anna Encarnacao relocated from Key West, where the couple worked at his restaurant Opera until city life called them away. The chef grew up in Modena, Italy, the birthplace of balsamic, which perhaps explains his liberal use of the vinegar. "Everyone says that," Encarnacao, who is originally from Brazil, says with a laugh.

Together they've created a charming package. The food is sometimes perfectly simple, sometimes gently innovative, and always genuine. The space is intimate, with room for about 25 guests among the two-tops and the larger surfboard-shaped table by the window. A tiny butcher-block bar offers a view of the kitchen. Behind it, Encarnacao pours wine - a glass for you, a glass for her - while Benatti stands at the stove, flames erupting occasionally from his frying pan. Wearing a red-and-green-trimmed chef's coat and arty,angular eyeglasses, his hairproducted into place, he looks so consummately Italian one wouldn't be surprised to find a Vespa back there, too. When there's a lull, he'll step out to ask how your meal is.

It should be nearly impossible to get a table here. But, although business appears to have picked up in recent weeks, a table is almost always yours for the getting. Fine dining in this part of Cambridge seems to be enough of a novelty that if it's raining, or it's Tuesday, or the stars aren't aligned, Benatti's not full.

It's time to change that. The risotto is reason enough. Peppery and dark brown, it's infused with the deep flavors of demi-glace and porcini. The grains have the exactly right, elusive amount of bite to them. The dish gets better with each mouthful.