Po

Mario Batali may be long gone, but fans of the Italian home cooking that put him on the map are still flooding into Po. "Po is my favorite Italian restaurant in the city," says Brother Dominic, a Franciscan friar who has occupied a window seat for 10 years. "But you have to come for lunch; that's when Frank is here. He's the soul of the restaurant - he's been here from the beginning." Frank is the Croatian waiter whom the antipasto is named for. Not only is he stunningly efficient (I watched him easily dispatch a party of 17 without batting an eye), but he's hilarious.

"What is this, a cappuccino before lunch?" he laughs as he delivers my cavatelli with broccoli. "Is that a Maryland thing? Ah, they wouldn't even give it to you in France. IN FRANCE, they won't give you an iced tea - they look at the American like..." He then launches into a salty rant about the tipping habits of European natives by country. (No one fares very well.) By the time he's finished, I'm laughing so hard that I can barely eat. But I can taste enough to know that the cavatelli is deliciously chewy, and the broccoli is sauteed with plenty of garlic.

Brother Dominic and Frank commiserate about Batali's latest venture and how they've seen him on TV with Tony Danza ("Danza dyes his hair!" protests Brother Dominic). Steve, the original business partner, moseys in and makes himself a cappuccino. Frank pretends to tussle with him at the machine and yells, "Look at this, he can't even wait for a cappuccino!"

I finish a mint-flecked gelato covered with spiced nuts and go laughing into the snowy day.

Po: 31 Cornelia St., (212) 645-2189.