Luigi's is a charming little place on the main drag of Lake Alfred.

Server Edwin, son of the owner Luigi Uzhca, says his father was chef in an Italian restaurant in New York City for 25 years.

'Frequent eater' and reader David Beebe turned me on to the place. Thanks, David. From now on you will have trouble finding a seat. There are only seven tables and a few seats at the bar of the restaurant that opened in May.

Edwin told us the salad specials — green bean, and stuffed mozzarella salads. He mentioned casually, like it happens all the time, that his father makes the mozzarella.

I have enjoyed Prosciutto and Melon many places but never with melon this perfect, draped with paper-thin slices of mild prosciutto. I bought two prosciuttos recently. The cheaper one had a bunch of flavor from added spices. The more expensive was just aged pork. This tasted like the good stuff.

Hefty lemon wedges and parsley garnished the plate. Here's the silly part — $4.99.

The menu came in handy as a fan to cool two rolls of also paper-thin eggplant rolled around a ricotta filling, topped with melted cheese and tomato sauce. Also $4.99. Share these.

Calamari would benefit from frying at higher temperature to leave it tender and not oily ($7.99).

Stracciatella Romana is egg drop soup as it's made in Rome. The kitchen split one big serving for $4.99 so my wife and I each got a bowl of light broth with tender greens and egg drops. It tasted like a bowl of poached eggs.

Four slices of mozzarella stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, prosciutto and herbs topped a pile of great greens. Homemade dressing tasted like it, and the Balsamic vinegar on the side tasted like it should taste.

Gnocchi ($8.99) comes with pesto or bolognese sauces, and the kitchen split an order so we could taste both. Both were winners.

Entrees include vegetable or pasta. Get one of each and share. The chef included roasted potatoes, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower — garlicky, buttery, al dente.

Chicken Franchese ($9.99) was two large slices of white meat dipped in egg and fried. Flavors went deeper than the light coating.

A Stuffed Pork Chop comes from the 'Luigi's Special' section of the menu ($11.99), and it is truly special. The chef splits a large, tender on-the-bone chop horizontally and fills it with prosciutto and mozzarella before topping it with marsala-mushroom gravy.

Lasagna ($9.99) had me thinking I died and went to Naples.

The family tomato sauce topped a plate of al dente spaghetti and three meatballs that tasted Italian ($9.99).

The four desserts are made here.

Tiramisu doesn't get much better than this. A moderate-size square of coffee, chocolate and liquor-flavored fluff and lady fingers. Just think about cutting it and the fork falls through. Raspberry sauce added even more flavor.

Half a strawberry garnished a small cannoli with not-sweet, not-smooth cheese filling. And no chocolate chips (thank goodness).

Reader Beebe's note said, 'Spousal Unit enjoyed creme brulee very much.' My wife did, too. The large shallow casserole, for creme brulee, arrived flaming, the delicate custard warm and the sugar hot and brown. Two can easily share this, each working from one end, like the dogs with spaghetti in the 1955 Disney movie 'Lady and the Tramp.'

All the desserts together cost $15.96.

Something they can do to improve is: fix the calamari.

The last inspection, in April, noted two violations that have been rectified.

The menu says 'Serving Traditional and Innovative Italian Dishes and Pasta.' Ain't that the truth!

Luigi's earns four stars.

Trent can be reached at trent.rowe@theledger.com.

LINK BELOW

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080814/TIMEOUT/500874753?Title=Take-a-Trip-to-Lake-Alfred-for-Special-Italian-Food#