Roma Luncheonette

Roma Luncheonette

187th Street, Bronx

Occasionally people will still mention the old Bleecker Luncheonette, the Italian restaurant formerly on the corner of Bleecker and Carmine streets. Village old-timers, or those who like to pose as such, reminisce about the owner's spectacular tantrums, which became legendary in the neighborhood. What often gets glossed over is the reason why people braved this snarling cur of a man for a plate of spaghetti. It wasn't just that the food was good, although it was one of the better Italian joints in a time when the Village had many. Bleecker Luncheonette, as its name implied, served simple, decent Italian food-you weren't likely to get carpaccio and truffle risotto, but you could eat there in the middle of the day and head back to work happy.

Workhorse red-sauce Italian-American food is now generally found only in one of the city's many Little Italys (Mulberry Street, Bensonhurst, Bayside,Arthur Avenue, and most of Staten Island come to mind.) Mulberry Street aside, decent food can be found in the Little Italy of an outer borough even if, as usually happens, the restaurant will in fact be run by either Mexicans or Albanians. Roma Luncheonette on 187th Street (just off Arthur Avenue) is operated by the former, and they do an excellent job.

Roma does a brisk business during the Christmas season and on weekends, attracting a mixed crowd of locals, tourists, college students and Italians on a nostalgia trip to the old neighborhood. The food isn't quite as transcendently good as the old Bleecker Luncheonette, but it comes close in spirit and is done with a surprisingly light, clean touch. The menu is simple: The list of heros is long and all are good, the pepper-and-egg hero ($3.25) tastes the way it's supposed to, and the meatball ($5) gives the impression that they made the meatballs from scratch... but didn't get all fancy with it. They'll create heroes to order, too-when I was trying to eat in the Zone, they made me a lovely grilled-chicken hero smothered with marinara that scratched the chicken-parm itch without the unnecessary breading and cheese. Pasta portions are generous without being huge... it's a lunch place, after all. I've never been there on a day the special board didn't advertise calamari marinara, and although at $11, it's one of Roma's most expensive entrees, it's a nice splurge, and they do it well.

The place is small but evokes a comfy 1950s lunch-counter feel, the staff are friendly, salsa music plays when things are slow, and they make an excellent cappuccino. If we can't have that maniac on Bleecker making garlicky spaghetti, this may well be the next best thing.