Profile

When a new landlord booted them from the spot they’d held on Mulberry Street since 1947, the Paolucci family didn’t wave the white flag; they raised the red, white, and green one at a spiffy, brick-front second-floor spot in the borough with the largest Italian population. Third-generation restaurateur and chef Danny Paolucci greets every customer who comes through the door while his elderly father takes stock from his perch at the bar with its flickering oversize hurricane gaslights overlooking tidy Forest Avenue. Even with multiple fireplaces, the slightly sterile digs lack the warmth of Little Italy’s turn-of-the-century architecture, but what is present from the old locale is a bigger-is-better attitude on the plate: This is evident in the ample mushrooms stuffed with eggplant, olive, zucchini, and breadcrumbs and the veal “Danny” of tender breaded cutlets layered with prosciutto and fresh-melted mozzarella atop a bed of spinach. If they ditch the live singer and his Billy Joel standards, this Paolucci’s has a very good shot at keeping a little slice of Mulberry Street alive far from Chinatown. — Amy Zavatto

Stuffed mushrooms, $7.70; escarole and bean soup, $8.95; manicotti, $15.95; veal “Danny,” $25.95