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Like the Scotto family’s original quick stop annex to their pricey midtown restaurant Fresco, this second location turns out stellar salads, sandwiches, and homey Italian dishes for suits on the go. Traders and lawyers form a busy line in a gleaming, spacious cafeteria, beneath a ceiling covered in photographs of sunflowers and a back wall displaying soothing pixilated scenes of the Italian countryside. More comforting still is the homey lasagna, with layers of pasta, fresh red sauce, and gooey mozzarella and a generous amount of ground beef and ricotta. Pizza takes a less traditional approach, with a fresh ball of dough tossed on a grill and pressed to a paper-thin crisp with black char stripes; the Margherita is then draped with fresh tomato sauce, grated mozzarella, and fragrant leaves of fresh basil. Fresco mostly empties out in the evenings, but the restaurant stays open for straightforward entrees like broiled salmon with homemade mashed potatoes. — Laurel Fantauzzo

Margherita pizza, $5.95; mom’s meatball lasagna, $9