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For a spot that seems like a classic New York red-sauce joint—Italian name, Christmas lights, white linen-covered tables, homemade pastas—there’s surprisingly little of the standard marinara on Tutta Pasta’s menu. The focus is more on cream, cheese, and olive-oil based sauces, with al dente pastas finished off with fresh vegetables, sausage, or seafood, and tomatoes appearing more as secondary ingredients. Some of this Park Slope restaurant’s menu does play into the traditional Italian-American format: Fried calamari and zucchini appetizers, bruschetta, the requisite sautéed escarole among the vegetable sides, and veal and chicken franceses, marsalas, and parmigianas. Chicken scarpariello and veal chop caprese round out the heavier entrées. The menu claims the boite made a name for itself with its “signature Char-Grilled Fired Pizzas,” most of which are topped with whole-milk mozzarella, San Marzano plum tomatoes, parmesan, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. Ultimately, diners will find that there’s nothing wrong with all this tradition, especially when it’s adhered to in a way—as it is here—that sends them right back to their nana’s Sunday-night dinner table. So, buon appetito! And get your elbows off the table. Were you raised in a barn? — Andrew Sessa

Tutta Pasta tre-colori, $24.95 for two; chicken parmigiana, $15.95; char-grilled fired pizzas, from $10.50