Caesar Salad

It's no mystery why Amicci's has been so popular for so long. Open a restaurant with good, basic Italian food served in heaping portions and at reasonable prices, and people will come. This Little Italy stalwart has changed quite a bit since it opened in 1990. Back then, it had 43 seats and a casual, sandwich-driven menu. Today, with a new dining area that opened in May, the restaurant seats 220, and the menu is mostly Italian entrees like lasagna, chicken parm and shrimp scampi, plus several pasta vegetarian dishes.

Ralphie's can be many things to many people.It calls itself a diner. But there's enough dark wood paneling to build a fern bar.It makes excellent milk shakes. But the martinis are just as good.You can begin with gravy-covered french fries or scampi. Then move on to meatloaf or linguine primavera.So, what's the word on Ralphie's, a nouveau diner behind a lot of glass on the first floor of a Timonium office complex? The word is: Different.And pretty good, at least from the range of foods my family and I sampled one recent Thursday night.

You've never seen a restaurant quite like the Vanguard Cafe before. Rarely does the setting so completely overshadow the food, which in this case is pleasant but hardly memorable. You couldn't say the same about the Vanguard's dining room.It's in the spot where Bowen & King opticians was for more than 75 years. Co-owner Nancy Smanko, who did the interior design, previously worked for Ikea; but nothing could be further from that clean-lined Scandinavian look. The high-ceilinged dining room has a certain decadently elegant air, with what must be the original marble tile floors, ornate gilded mirrors and handsome mantels.

Restaurant critics are supposed to be invisible, but this was ridiculous.My husband and I arrived at Pat & Mike's in Towson about five minutes apart -- he had come from work and I from home -- but we spent 30 minutes more waiting for each other. While I waited at a remote table, thinking he was caught in traffic or mired in a ditch, he languished in the bar, fearing I might have been abducted from a nearby mall.Although I had clearly told one hostess that I was ''meeting my husband'' and he had inquired -- twice -- if I was there, describing even the color of my coat, neither of the two hostesses made the connection.

No review of Sanders' Corner can start with anything but its fine covered porch overlooking the woods and fields surrounding Loch Raven Reservoir. Not for nothing do the servers wear T-shirts saying, "Sanders' Corner: That Dam Place." Decked out with striped awnings, tile-topped tables, potted plants and ceiling fans, it's one of Baltimore County's best spaces for eating casually outdoors. A new owner, John Naudain, took over this spring, sprucing the place up and adding curbside pickup, valet parking, delivery and a lounge.

Women in MusicIt was encouraging to read James Roos' nationally syndicated May 20 article, "Women have a hand in classical music,"Women are finally beginning to be more widely recognized for their accomplishments as composers and conductors of classical music. As a point of interest, the two conductors pictured in the article are known to Baltimore audiences.Catherine Comet was formerly the associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Kate Tamarkin was the conductor of the Women Composers Orchestra during its 1988-1989 season.

Enrico'sWhere: 808 Westminster Pike.Hours: Open for dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays,5 p.m. to 10pm. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays.Credit Cards: AE, MC, V.Features: Italian dishes, pasta, pizza, subs.Non-smoking section? Yes -- separate room on weekends,separate area onweekdays.Call: 833-6301.***"Family" dining. Uh oh.Nothing against families, mind you. But when this childless reviewer is in search of fine dining, she tends to shy away from the kind of place that prominently features the F-word in its advertising.

This could be a first - a place that plays country music and uses sun-dried tomatoes, fried leek sticks and pesto mayonnaise. Welcome to the Carried Away Gourmet. Located on Main Street in the heart of old Bel Air, Carried Away is a surprisingly good carryout that is interested in being far more than a BLT-slinging eatery. The country music notwithstanding, the owners have done up the inside of the old brick storefront with an urban sensibility: polished wood floors, cute light fixtures and a color scheme heavy on mustard and mauve.

Restaurant reviewers generally don't like writing about Little Italy. Even if they like eating in Little Italy. (And for all the griping that goes on, most of us wouldn't turn up our noses at a platter of decent fettuccine.)No, the problem isn't our gastric juices, it's our creative juices. There is never, ever anything new to say about Little Italy; one might as well take a generic review, one mentioning the pasta, the veal and the Vaccaro's cannoli, the schmaltzy music, friendly service and red-and-green color scheme, and plug in a different name and address for every new place that opens.

They have no job security, unemployment insurance, retirement benefits, paid vacations, sick leave or health insurance. Most don't earn a livable wage, either, and must rely ++ instead on the kindness of strangers.They're waitresses and waiters. They work as hard as any of us -- usually for much less. Many also endure daily verbal, emotional and sexual abuse, and it's up to us to put a stop to it.In a busy restaurant in Washington not long ago, a gray-haired, red-faced couple were getting to know each other through a haze of bourbon.