Mineola: The right Piccolo's

Pleasant dinner at Piccolo's in Mineola, a restaurant I'd been meaning to try since, a month or so ago, I pulled into its parking lot thinking I had arrived at Piccola Bussola which, it turned out, was about a mile down Jericho Turnpike. That dinner proved to be a disappointment--huge portions of lackluster food served in a sprawling, catering-hall style room.

But I was talking about Piccolo's. For my first course, I took a chance on a daily special, crespelle, which was not only misspelled on the menu as "crispelle," even worse it was translated as "crapes." Whatever, the very thin pancakes had been filled with ricotta and spinach and blanketed with tomato sauce and cheese and were thoroughly delicious. I followed this up with an unimpeachable chicken Francese. I particularly liked that my chicken was served on a smallish plate; I am so sick of gigantic plates.

My pal's string-bean salad was very good although, apparently, the beans had been "steemed." Veal Marsala was also good, though not so good as my chicken Francese.

Piccolo's is at 150 E. Jericho Tpke., Mineola, 516-248-8110.

Newsday photo of my crespelle / Erica Marcus