Natalino's serves the best chicken cacciatore in Chicago. Period. This is one chicken dish that you get either all right or all wrong, and the relatively new Natalino's on West Chicago Avenue gets it all right: A masterful blend of flavors that started with the sauteed chicken (on the bone) and rambled on through a light and fragrant tomato sauce along with just the right amount of the "cacciatore" part -- meaty mushrooms and strips of red and green bell peppers. All of this good eating got another shot of flavor, because it rode atop a bed of spaghetti.

As if that chicken didn't do it, "Chicken Joey" crosses the road for another enjoyable culinary adventure. In this instance, the chicken was a plump and meaty grilled breast draped over a bed of sauteed rapini and white beans and a subtle amount of tomatoes. A light olive oil and lemon sauce came along for the ride.

Natalino's, which has been open for about two months now, has a lot of my friends going ga-ga over the food and the "Italian neighborhood" atmosphere. The menu is not overwhelming, but it has just about every Italian dish you could ever want, with a few trendy ideas thrown in for even more good eating.

For example, the menu leads off with an appetizer of burrata. I found it incredibly delicious. (Burrata is mozzarella stuffed with mozzarella and cream.) The Natalino's version was as good as I have had anywhere (including in Italy), with crostini, meaty cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and a gentle dash of extra virgin olive oil. Don't miss it.

Don't miss the calamari, either. You can order it one of three ways (sauteed, grilled or flash-fried). I went with the flash-fried; the quick frying kept those rings quite tender.

I was enamored, too, with another appetizer -- polenta. This one falls into the rustic category (but I would never have used that word in my mother's kitchen). The polenta was baked and then jazzed up with crumbles of sweet Italian sausage and provolone cheese.

And I liked one more appetizer -- radicchio and prosciutto, featuring slices of prosciutto wrapped delicately about a "bundle" of grilled radicchio, with a light shower of pecorino to seal the deal.

I could write a book about the many pasta and risotto dishes offered. Orecchiette and rapini is a classic that blended those "little ears" of tender pasta with chunks of spicy Italian sausage and silky sauteed rapini. Delicious.

Tortellacci with lobster (tortellacci is in the tortellini family) were beauties, stuffed with a mixture of lobster and ricotta and a veneer of sun-dried tomatoes and basil sauce. However, I would think that an Alfredo sauce with prosciutto would provide luxury more in touch with the lobster.

The risotto with fresh fennel and sausage was outstanding. The risotto was perfectly cooked, creamy and not tight. Add on the texture of the sausage, and the slight anise flavor of the fresh fennel and the fineness and finesse of this dish was magical.

There is always a "fish of the day" (tilapia shows up a lot), along with whitefish and Chilean sea bass (did not try any of those). And, yes, there is giambotta (mixture of sausage, potatoes, onions and peppers), along with a couple of steaks and four veal dishes.

The veal Natalino (medallions of veal with mushrooms in a garlic, white wine sauce) sounded interesting, but I am a pushover for veal Milanese. The lightly breaded veal cutlet (a generous cut) on a platter with arugula and fresh tomatoes was simple yet sensational.

Desserts were presented on a tray tableside and were acceptable. The ricotta cheesecake was light and flavorful, and the tiramisu was, well, tiramisu (though one of the better ones around).

I found more enjoyment, though, in playing around with the cannoli. Broken cannoli shells, some coated with chocolate, circled a mound of sweetened ricotta. Use the shells to scoop the ricotta and have fun.

Pat Bruno is a free-lance writer, author and critic.

E-mail brunoeats@aol.com.