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Co-owners Josip "Pepi" Hanovic and David "Luigi" Kucica, longtime friends from Croatia, have done a bang-up job of adapting an upscale Northern Italian restaurant to the humble environs of Astoria, Queens. Despite more than doubling in size after a three-year-long renovation, Ponticello is still packed for dinner most nights, with customers spilling from the piano-centered foyer into the sapphire and turquoise bar area. Meanwhile, private parties create a din in the upstairs VIP area and basement dining room, which overlooks an eye-popping wine cellar. The main dining room itself is self-consciously sleek with suede paneling on the walls and an iced glass chandelier overhead. Despite the flashy décor, the cuisine mostly maintains its homespun Italo-Croatian charms, with nightly fish and fresh game specials joining favorites like the prosciutto-wrapped veal Ponticello, osso bucco with gnocchi, and the seductive crab-stuffed avocado starter. The nightly hubbub is due in part to the stunning wine list, which presents a huge cache of mid-priced Italian reds, plus a dozen-odd choices from Pepi and Luigi's homeland. — Jon Steinberg

Crab-stuffed avocado $12.50; veal Ponticello, $19.50; osso bucco, $25