The 22-year-old La Mela (“the apple”)—in the heart of Little Italy on teeming, rollicking Mulberry Street—is a New York City institution. It seats 500 in five dining rooms at tables covered with checkered oilcloth. From the first warm days of spring to Columbus Day, many more patrons fill the sidewalk tables. The kitchen churns out mind-boggling quantities of food for the never-ending crowds that descend on it every night. (On a slow weekday, 300 to 350 diners are served.)

That food is quite good. La Mela specializes in hearty, husky, southern Italian favorites like scaloppini, Marsala, parmigiana, Marinara, and oreganato dishes. It’s a noisy, upbeat, honest restaurant with a no-pretense personality all its own that offers a quintessential New York experience.


However, La Mela doesn’t cater to dainty souls seeking small, refined portions of cutting-edge Italian cuisine. Instead, its large, round tables are filled with large groups of families and friends, often celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. There’s electricity in the air and something going on in every corner of this sprawling spot. With its low ceilings, jolly clientele, and often frantic pace, old-timers are sometimes reminded of the Leones of bygone days and half expect a grandmotherly cook to appear at any moment and say, “I’m cooking, you’re eating.” Indeed, many diners opt for one of the two no-menu, family-style feasts rather than the a la carte selections. The pictures of the three-course and four-course dinners are on the menu. Expect generous portions of (they do the picking) mixed antipasti, mozzarella and tomatoes, mixed pastas, and a meat dish. Throw in a little more for a dessert (tiramisu, tortoni, Italian cheese cake, etc.) and you have a belly-busting bargain.

There are two bottles of wine on the menu but no list. When we inquired about other possibilities, our waiter --- a pleasant, rotund sort wearing a white shirt, red suspenders, and a thick black mustache -- plunked three or four other bottles on our table. And yes, one of them was a Chianti in a straw-covered husk.

I enjoyed everything from the crusty peasant bread at the meal’s outset to the rich, creamy zabaglione at its conclusion. In between the two, we sampled the likes of light, tender, fried calamari accompanied by mellow tomato sauce, thinly coated asparagus parmigiana, first-rate roasted red peppers, and stuffed mushrooms, full-flavored pastas like rigatoni Bolognese and gnocchi Sorrentina, as well as country-style, on-the-bone chicken scarpariello, thick, wine-flavored, mushroom-blanketed scaloppini Marsala, and a plate of robustly seasoned shrimp oreganata.

167 Mulberry St. at Grand St., 212-431-9493; www.lamelarestaurant.com

Richard Jay Scholem was a restaurant critic for the New York Times' Long Island section for 14 years. His A La Carte column appeared from 1990 to 2004. For more “Taste of the Town” reviews, click here.