"The Tower of Pisa Ribeye?"

http://dfw.citysearch.com/E/V/DALTX/0233/19/05/cs1.html

This spaghetti Western combines budget steakhouse with pasta and pizza in a fun, tongue-in-cheek atmosphere that vibrates with color and energy. There's plenty of Texas paraphernalia: cowboy hats and boots, longhorn skulls strung with beads (and decorated as the Cash Cow, the Cowgirl and the Cowboy).

The comic book Texana – along with a wood-burning pizza oven and garlands intertwined with twinkle lights for a hint of Little Italy – make this tacky fun. Movie posters of Clint Eastwood as the budget Western antihero poke you in the ribs, just in case you don't get it.

Vibrant red, blue and yellow – along with Italian green – set up the interior as pop art against a black and white tile floor. Owners Jane and Francesco Secchi (they also have Ferrari's Italian Villa and Il Grano) have combined his Italian heritage with their almost 20 years of Dallas restaurant experience in a casual concept that links some of this city's favorite food groups: steaks, pasta and pizza.

Eat 'em up.

The Tower of Pisa rib eye ($19.99) is a good everyday version of top-dollar bone-in rib eyes sold at steakhouses for twice the price. Tender and juicy, although not as fine-grained as prime, this 18-ounce steak satisfies with a stack of onion rings. The plate is monstrous with roasted potatoes and steamed veggies, the go-with for most steaks. Some, such as the filet ($22.99 for 9-ounce; $16.99 for 6-ounce) come with a side of fettuccine Alfredo.

A pork chop ($12.99) Milanese-style – butterflied, pounded flat, breaded and fried – was lovely but needed some adornment besides a net-wrapped lemon half for squeezing. We wished for a wine-butter-caper sauce, but marinara and melted mozzarella – like that served on the chicken parmigiana ($11.99) – would have sufficed.

Most dishes tasted impeccably fresh, but salmon steak Fiorentina ($13.99), a 10-ounce boneless piece of salmon, had a fishy taste that could almost be freshened with lemon juice – but shouldn't have needed to be. A bed of sautéed spinach and a white wine and cream sauce made a lovely plate.

While entrees ranged from good to near miss, appetizers hit their target, as did pizzas. Bruschetta ($4.99), crispy flat bread topped with thick roma tomato slices, lots of garlic, Parmesan cheese and basil, tasted as sunny as the UVs that ripened the ingredients.

Fried calamari ($6.50) were crisp and made for a great nosh dipped into a sassy Italian tomato sauce. Gamberetti Inferno ($7.95) was shrimp in a creamy tomato sauce with a heat factor more subtle than the name implies. The shrimp were tender and plump, and the sauce begged to be sopped.

Pizza billed as Quattro Stagioni ($9.50) with mushrooms, garlic, mild feta cheese and artichokes couldn't be improved upon. Thin, crisp crust matted an artfully balanced composition of ingredients. More basic pepperoni pizza ($9.75) gets high marks, too.

Pasta dishes didn't appeal as much as the pizza; the combinations didn't entice. Still, angel-hair pasta with tomatoes, garlic and basil ($7.99) was a fine example of fresh Italian simplicity. Ravioli Stefano ($9.75), cheese-stuffed pasta packets tossed with a creamy tomato sauce and mushrooms, had nice al dente chew against satin consistency.

So far, mostly good and a little bad. Things got ugly at dessert.

Cannoli, ideally a crisp pastry tube with creamy filling, was so dry and tough I considered breaking it over my knee like a malfunctioning putter. A chocolate covered ball tasted like a lunchbox cupcake, minus the cake; just the chocolate coating and a fluff filling like marshmallow cream. Spongecake filled with chocolate mousse looked dry and tired. Guess what? It tasted that way, too.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001