Café del Mar (CLOSED)

By offering a sesame-crusted halibut garnished with guacamole and pickled papaya, the chef isn’t sticking too closely to the standard Mediterranean idiom. Still, standard Italian dishes predominate: Breaded veal comes pounded flat, stretched wide across the plate with an arugula salad heaped on top; pasta dishes like spaghetti with white clam sauce are tasty. Zucchini slices make a tender wrapper for warm goat cheese, and a wonderfully intense seafood broth is adorned with one gigantic prawn. The small twin dining rooms are simple and comfortable but, if you can, grab a table out front and pretend you’re dining on the Adriatic rather than Atlantic Avenue.