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SEVEN NUMBERS

516 Eglinton Ave. W., Toronto. 416-322-5183. Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip, $90.

Vito Marinuzzi felt that if he didn't own a restaurant on Eglinton, then he didn't really own a restaurant. The family's Seven Numbers on the Danforth is humming along very nicely, but Eglinton is where they started. Forest Hill on a jeans night is their time-honoured constituency, and they were hungry to get back on the strip after their lease ended on the old Eglinton Seven Numbers two years ago.

So Vito bought the building at 516 Eglinton Ave. W., so that Rosa, his mom (the Seven Numbers chef), could live in an apartment upstairs above the restaurant. Rosa's dream was always to have the traditional Italian restaurant where she could cook and live upstairs.

Every Sunday, the Marinuzzi family has a traditional Italian brunch in her apartment. By 5 p.m., they wind it down and schlep downstairs to open the restaurant.

Vito's brother, Tony, is the chef at their other resto on the Danforth. But those in the know say Mama Rosa makes sure Tony is doing a good job. They also say Rosa taught cousin Gio Rana (who owns Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant, and previously had The Nose and Five Doors North) everything he knows about cooking. Family is No. 1 with them. Pass by the new place on a warm fall evening after the dinner rush, and they're all out front, perched on a motley collection of stools and chairs - Rosa and her husband (who waits table), Vito, maybe Tony, up from the Danforth for the evening.

Vito got the concept of putting the kitchen at the front of the restaurant (with the chef in the front window) from cousin Gio. At the new Seven Numbers, which already has lineups, you stand and wait and schmooze a little with Rosa while she cooks. Rosa yells at the dishwasher, the waiters yell at each other - all in good fun - and this is as close as you're ever going to get to dining with a southern Italian family in their home.

Seven Numbers is dark and cozy. Having some trouble reading the menu on the blackboard? No worries, your waiter will make a joke about reading glasses, and shout above the din to give you the goods. Which are, especially for the rock-bottom prices, very good.

Mama Rosa is in better form than ever. Her grilled sardines are fresh and perfectly cooked, and with Rosa's signature full-flavoured tomato sauce, what could be wrong?

A person would be a fool to pass up Rosa's pasta with tomato sauce, which makes anybody else's tomato sauce pale by comparison. It's sweet and strong and redolent of sautéed garlic.

Her calamari are tender, clad more delicately than yesteryear and fried more briefly. Has Mama Rosa been influenced by fusion food? One might think so upon meeting snap pea, artichoke and fennel salad, the fennel lightly grilled, the whole thing delicately dressed. Or farfalle with surprisingly light lentil sauce. Even her pasta dishes seem more sophisticated some days: She tosses tortiglione with chunks of very fresh ricotta and spinach. Rainbow trout is nicely cooked and sauced with tomato and capers.

Her veg antipasti are always fresh and robustly flavoured. Her sides equally assertive and fun. But the meat 'n' fish mains are Mama Rosa's power play: She charges just nine bucks for duck braised in duck stock, and it's tender and tasty!

Ten bucks buys a big plate of osso bucco - not the snazziest meat in town, but the econo-cut is more than made up for by the deep rich meat sauce with chunks of carrot and celery.

Ten bucks for tender steak rolled up unto packets around melted mozzarella and al dente asparagus! Check your bill: It's never more than $80 for two including wine.

The family's unfortunate refusal to take reservations is more than mitigated by the entertainment of standing beside the open kitchen watching Rosa cook and being treated to the non-stop brio.

jkates@globeandmail.com