A small dining room and excellent food make for some very long waits at this neighborhood restaurant, but an expansion has helped ease the crush. The pleasant dining room has brick walls and tables covered with white tablecloths. Start with the huge antipasto platter filled with hot and cold vegetables, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and shrimp, and then move on to the pastas or entrées like lemony roasted Cornish hen or red-wine braised lamb shank. Reservations not accepted. Subway: 1, 2, 3, 9 to 96th St.