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Like a friendly way station for the weary traveler, La Vineria, which means "country inn of wines," is a refuge from the Theater District's often mediocre and overpriced restaurants. It beckons its distinguished, Broadway-bound crowd with warm hospitality, honest Italian trattoria cooking, and oenophilic bliss. The pale yellow dining room features wood paneling that suggests wine barrel staves. Quaint vinicultural prints and countless bottles of vino line the walls. They hint at the restaurant's massive offering of more than 100 wines from all over Italy. The menu joins Northern Italian meat dishes—like pan-roasted leg of lamb and pork tenderloin with pancetta and mustard—with Southern Italian specialties that tend to emphasize seafood. All presentations are straightforward and unpretentious: Delicate pappardelle ribbons are sauced with a savory duck ragu; toothsome penne, topped with succulent shrimp, come in a vibrant pesto that captures the aroma and taste of fresh-picked basil; fork-tender veal scaloppini, with a zesty tomato sauce, is studded with capers; and Zuppa di Pesce, a veritable treasure chest of mussels, baby clams, squid, scallops, monkfish, salmon and plump shrimp in a lively tomato broth, demands sopping up with the accompanying crusty bread. You'll come back to this inn again and again. — Michael Anstendig

Pappardelle all'anatra, $16.50; zuppa di pesce a la Napoletana, $23.50