We want to love Zaffino's

Zaffino's is a family place. By that I mean, of course, family-friendly, but also familial. And familiar. At the hostess station we're greeted by the proprietress, Nori Fryar, who says she'll sit us in her daughter-in-law's section. Later, our server begs leave of us because she has Nori's grandbaby at home to tend, and in fact, she only came in for the dinner rush because her mother-in-law was shorthanded.

My betrothed and I liked Lori. (That's right, one of Nori's boys married a girl named Lori.) I liked her the moment she corrected me about a cabernet sauvignon on the menu. I said, "I guess I'll have the Concha y Toro cab -- oh, you've got a house cab? I'll have that. What's the difference, right?"

The price difference was substantial -- $10 for the Chilean cab, $6.50 for the house Californian.

"There's a difference," Lori said. The house cab, she admitted, even smells weaker.

And she was so right. We ordered both, and the Chilean label felt apropos of our night out; the other, apropos of Catholic Mass. Now, Concha y Toro is no table wine. It's a good estate cab, but the house one by any estimation is brown bag.

This contrast serves as metaphor at Zaffino's, where Fryar has staked out a kind of median between budget menu and three-star cuisine.

Inside this quiet Sherwood shopping strip at the base of the Overbrook subdivision, a stone's throw from the municipal fishing pond on Kiehl Avenue, is a cafe as charming and organic as can be in a space previously occupied by an insurance agent or tax preparer or cosmetologist. Not quite a special occasion place, but neither is it unromantic.

The signature pleasure is the assonant accent of Fryar's Venetian English above the dining room din -- really, over and beyond and through the din -- making small talk with the diners, orchestrating the staff. Its timbre and undulating volume call to mind Arianna Huffington more than Sophia Loren. And in a place like central Arkansas she's fun, so fun! I've seen her probe the Neapolitan roots of patrons whose connection to the motherland is a Catholic priest they once had.

We began with sauteed mushrooms ($7) and calamari ($11). The first arrived at the table in a small serving bowl and, though the minced garlic was visible, we wondered whether the simple button mushrooms came from a can (we were assured they do not). We ate a few. Along with the truly tender garlic bread, they were adequate, just not special, and we'll not order them again.

The calamari, meanwhile, was fairly succulent and savory and, in a slight twist, tossed with pepperoncini slices and served with a nice cream condiment that may be a yolk-less aioli or else a handmade ranch dressing. (We'd previously tried the eggplant strips served with marinara [$8] and the bruschetta [$9], and all three are very satisfying.)

Next came a bowl of minestrone for me and a tossed salad for her (choice of soup or salad is complimentary with entrees). My minestrone was exceedingly light on vegetables. There was nary a bean, as if strained. On a subsequent visit the kitchen had a pot of tomato basil simmering. If this is offered on your visit, take it. The basil is redolent and refreshing, the tomato stock beautifully balanced with some cream.

The tossed salad was simple -- plain lettuce with a few Roma tomato slices and cucumber.

I often skip appetizers in restaurants if I know I'm going to get a big bowl of hearty soup to start. Here I would go ahead and order an appetizer if you're settling in.

The only dinner I've ordered twice at Zaffino's -- which is a credit to how confident I am in their dishes -- is the Veal Valdastano ($21). It is an absolute delight and -- I'm guessing here, not having visited every Italian restaurant in central Arkansas -- a one-of-a-kind locally: two to three slices of veal lightly breaded, fried and stacked with prosciutto and mozzarella layered and some fire-roasted sweet red peppers on top.

By all (Internet) accounts, this is a simple flour-butter-white-wine creation, but there's something exceedingly nutty about Fryar's gravy. And I mean peanut-ty. Could it be something simple, like browned onions and mushrooms with a demi-glace? Regardless, this is the adventurous diner's first pick. A similar dish, though less cloying and less unusual, is the Italian Sausage and Mushrooms ($17).

For an equally rich entree -- zippier, too, if more predictable -- we liked the Tuscan Shrimp ($21) with a tangy, full-bodied pomodoro with some cream and wide tiger shrimp over fettuccine. The shrimp was cooked lightly, which we appreciated.

My fiancee and I have eaten at Zaffino's maybe a half-dozen times in the last two years. Until Friday, we'd never had a bad meal, but this night we waited roughly 40 minutes for our soup and salads. Granted, we didn't order an appetizer, but neither should such a first course be held up like that.

During that time our server apologized for the delay -- a cook had called in sick, he said. He didn't offer to bring us bread -- if this weren't an Italian restaurant that discourtesy would be slightly less conspicuous -- and we continued to wait several minutes. Then, when our entrees arrived, I pulled a long blond hair out of my companion's vegetables.

I've thought long and hard about how to frame this, because it happens at the best of places and, so, is perfectly tragicomic.

My companion alerted the staff. A senior member, a Fryar, stopped by our table and said her Baked Salmon with sauteed vegetables ($19) had been removed from the bill. He handed us a voucher for a free dessert at a later time and asked us to give them another chance.

I don't know that we will anytime soon, but here's the other emotion that's bubbled up from the bottom of our bad memory, and she said it, not me -- "The thing is, I want to love this place. That's the problem. I want to."

Despite some recent dishes that shook our confidence -- the baked salmon was, forgetting the hair, unremarkable -- and that one bad night, we're fond of Nori Fryar, her kitchen and her cafe. They set the bar high on our first visit two years ago.

Weekend on 03/12/2015