Le Zoccole

Hearth, with its 28-person waiting list, was not an option tonight. Fortunately, the East Village abounds with excellent, reasonable Italian restaurants, and I was happy to make a reservation at Le Zoccole for a dinner with friends.

After a brief seating snafu, we secured a comfortable table. We then munched on a basket of warm tomato onion focaccia as we perused the menu. The specials included a several types of raw oysters, a skate entree, and a 10-oz. ribeye over garlic mashed potatoes.

We started with some Merlot Kasher Cantina 2002, and continued with the cicchetti (Venetian tapas), a tray loaded with 11 small plates of appetizers. Our favorites were a delectable grilled sardine, soft polenta triangles, fried olives, calamari, and a garlicky salad of cubed octopus, cucumbers and tomatoes. (We were less fond of the rather tasteless stewed beans, but many delicious flavors counteracted them.)

Our entrees were a truffled macaroni and cheese, a pici (hand-rolled ricotta pasta) and a chicken "porchetta". The macaroni and cheese, which arrived in a bowl sprinkled with nutmeg, was fabulously cheesy with pecorino and mozzarella and creamy with ricotta. Although its advertised truffle oil was not much in evidence, I think it would be difficult to find a more satisfying mac 'n' cheese anywhere. The pici (of which a great rendition can also be found at Via Emilia) was a lighter, vegetable-laden pasta dish. The pasta curls were tossed with artichokes, string beans and asparagus. The porchetta, a huge slow-roasted half chicken, was surprisingly rich, slathered with some sort of garlicky butter and served with potatoes, cherry tomatoes and a few sprigs of greens.

The restaurant had now become quite crowded, and when dessert pangs struck, it was difficult to grab the attention of our (very charming) waitress. When we did finally locate her, she sweetly offered us free desserts for our patience. Of course we were thrilled! (Unfortunately, we all wanted the same dessert, so I only tried one kind.) The cioccolatissimo indeed lived up to its superlative. With the touch of a spoon, a gooey hot chocolate mousse oozed forth from its graham cracker surroundings. The whole delicious mess was coated with even more melted chocolate, which converted the accompanying gelato into a satisfying vanilla swirl. Crunchy biscotti completed the dreamy experience.

Le Zoccole: 95 Ave. A, (212) 260-6660.