It's not just the oceanfront view or the wraparound dining veranda that draws tourists and locals to Ristorante Luna Rosa adjacent to the Deerfield Beach HoJo. It's not even the rich white linen/heavy silverware ambience that carries such out-of-character sophistication for beachside open-air spots, though you'll find the same at the sister restaurant, Caffe Luna Rosa in Delray Beach.

RESTAURANT INFO Cuisine: Italian
2096 NE Second St., Deerfield Beach
954-429-8386
Cost: moderate-expensive
Credit cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; brunch Saturday, Sunday
Reservations: accepted for six or more
Bar: full service
Sound level: can be very noisy
Smoking: outdoors only
Children's facilities: high chairs
Wheelchair accessible: yes

There's also a well constructed wine list decorated with Wine Spectator awards and a competent, respectful service team to engage you in a carefully thought out menu. The staff is wine-savvy and as proficient at decanting as they are filleting whole fish tableside and handling special requests. The connected Pink Moon Bar has some powerful dynamics that add conviviality, and, when the weather is less than cooperative, outdoor diners might wind up inside for one giant really noisy party.

Nevertheless, a morning, noon or night meal offers treasures that tempt with their mere mention. Try pancakes with toasted macadamia nuts and housemade pineapple syrup, sticky bun French toast, or an International omelette -- Italian, with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and gorgonzola, or French, with ham and brie. Pricing fluctuates from weekdays to weekend brunch. It's enough to make you wish they served breakfast for dinner -- except that dinners are just as tempting.

Executive chef Pasquale Lena oversees a fairly short dinner menu (lobster, veal, prime aged steaks, chicken, and a tableside recital or two), but one focused on quality ingredients. Consider excellent bruschetta with jumbo shrimp expertly sauteed in lemon herb butter ($13) or the caprese ($12), with imported mozzarella, accessorized by locally grown basil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of imported extra virgin olive oil. Or, enjoy a large iceberg lettuce wedge ($9) that benefits from creamy gorgonzola dressing dotted with crisp sauteed pancetta and the nice touch of a wedge of Maytag Blue.

Kitchens that serve half orders of pasta (they call them "piccolos" here), make it easy to sample several varieties. The Bolognese excels with supple homemade wide egg noodles coated in San Marzano tomato sauce and a load of crumbled ground meat ($19; $8.50 half), though the housemade rooster's crest-shaped pasta is also good in a cheesy vodka tomato cream sauce ($17; $9 half).

Lobsters are cold-water South African tails, available with herbed lemon butter for $41 including potato and the veggie du jour; with jumbo shrimp and littlenecks in tomato sauce over linguine ($41), fra diavolo ($39), or stuffed and baked with lump blue crab ($49). Rather spend less? The pan-roasted salmon ($19) is generously portioned with delicious balsamic brown butter to shake up the familiar fish flavors. The partnering crispy polenta cake transforms basic earthiness into creamy goodness after being cooled, cut, and lightly browned in the oven. Or, there's a lovely breaded boneless chicken breast with pancetta in tomato sauce capped with fresh mozzarella ($21).

The menu suggests combining something that comes sans sauce with one of the sauce selections. Pick your indulgence, but remember it adds to the base price. Saucy accoutrements include a vivid Barolo demi glace ($6) -- worth ordering just to eat with a spoon -- as well as marsala ($4), strewn with exotic and domestic mushrooms, and an exotic mushroom/truffle oil demi ($5). Have some on veal medallions, ($20), cooked not a second too much or too little, or a gloriously tender 14-oz. New York strip ($26).

Don't leave without sampling some of the best cheesecake ($7) I've tasted in years -- the real-cream kind -- imported from Ferrara's Bakery in New York's Little Italy. It makes you wish the slice, like the meal, would never end.

Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.