It's a strange sensation to open a menu for a "pizza and pasta family restaurant" and find five Mexican specialties among the entrees. So it was with some trepidation that we approached dinner at Modesto's, located in a tiny strip mall in Westerly. We needn't have worried.

For an Italian place to succeed in this part of South County, it must have the knack of cooking cappellini al dente and making a mean fra diavolo sauce. Bill's entree proved the mettle of Modesto's cooks on both counts. But prior to his lip-smacking response to that, we dove into a small pizza alla putanesca ($8.95). Thin crust, delicious tomato sauce, plenty of cheese, extremely generous toppings of black and green olive chunks, a few capers, pieces of fresh garlic and mucho anchovies. Isn't it fortunate that we share a fondness for the latter two?

Other unusual pizza choices include mousaka (with breaded eggplant and spiced beef), pollo cacciatore (chicken and prosciutto), mare and monte (shrimp, scallops, broccoli, artichoke hearts), and "Modesto's Mexican" (refried beans, chicken and jalapenos). Other appetizers are blackened shrimp, "Modesto's mussels" and chiles rellenos.

Mexican pizza? Chiles rellenos? It turns out that Modesto Moran arrived in New York at 17, fresh from his hometown of Puebla, Mexico. He worked as a dishwasher, then a cook. He eventually landed in a French restaurant, and then an Italian one, where he fell in love with the cuisine and opened the first Modesto's in Franklin, Connecticut, more than 15 years ago. In 1993, he expanded to Westerly, bringing family members into the business, first his younger brothers and eventually his own teenagers. He now also has restaurants in the Connecticut towns of Colchester and Cromwell.

Thus, the idea of combining a few Mexican recipes in a predominantly Italian menu has proved to be a good one. Certainly, we were pleased as punch with our dishes: an entree-sized chiles rellenos for me ($10.95), carne asada ($12.95) for 15-year-old Matt, our nephew visiting from Maine; and calamari fra diavolo ($11.95) for Bill. As mentioned, the carefully cooked cappellini thrilled him. The deliciously spiced fresh plum tomato sauce on the squid rings impressed me. Such fresh, light tastes against the delicate seafood.

The thin sirloin steak in Matt's carne asada had been marinated in lime juice, fresh garlic, and herbs and expertly grilled to a medium doneness, with a mound of sauteed onions, mushrooms, and red and green peppers piled on top. It was served with refried beans and Spanish rice as well as a garden salad.

My rellenos were baked Cubanelle peppers stuffed with mozzarella, provolone, and Muenster cheeses, as well as chunks of jumbo shrimp. Incredibly rich, but incredibly good. A very spicy salsa surrounded the peppers and a heap of "Spanish rice" filled the other half of the plate. This orange-colored rice was tasty with herbs and textured with corn niblets and green beans, a vegetable variation on south-of-the-border rice with peas or pintos.

Among the array of eight desserts were two that were house-made. In keeping with the restaurant's food theme, the choices include tiramisu and flan ($3.75 each). We shared the latter and loved its caramel coating, nicely browned but not bitter, and the firm custard beneath it.

Modesto's is not long on decor. We were in the dining room with the lace curtains and cross-stitched tapestries (done by one of the managers). Glass covered the dark green and white table linens. Fresh flowers and tabletop candle lamps completed the scene. Nothing flamboyant about Modesto's except the food.

Toward the end of the evening, two groups of seven each streamed in through the restaurant's narrow entrance hall, and it was impossible not to catch the excitement of the Modesto's veterans explaining Moran's family tree and his best dishes to their newcomer friends. The vodka sauce (on rigatoni) was getting raves, as were the mussels and the Modesto's salad, a green salad dressed up with apples and feta. There's even a children's menu, and a young girl near us had salad and huge onion rings for dinner.

A friend's advice to us -- to call for a reservation, even on a weeknight -- should have tipped us off to how there's something at Modesto's that even jaded tourists would seek out. Business may fall off a bit after Labor Day, but don't count on it. Modesto's is definitely worth the trip to Westerly, but do call ahead. The local Italian-American population may beat you to it.

Issue Date: August 30 - September 5, 2002