Instead of always checking out new restaurants, we need, sometimes, to see how the old standbys are doing. Born over a decade ago, the Huntington trattoria called Pomodoro was one of the first in what has become a mini-empire of restaurants, extending from Long Island to Manhattan. What's kept Pomodoro alive becomes clear at first bite: robust food, served in unpretentious red-checkered tablecloth surroundings.

But even the most popular restaurant has its problems. Here, it's noise. Come on a relatively quiet weeknight and you may not notice ...

Still, I would return (during the week), if only for the marvelous focaccia strips, warm and lightly glossed with herb-infused olive oil. Portobello mushrooms, a delicious standby, atop a field green salad, were accented by roasted red peppers and creamy goat cheese... Fried calamari, however, was flawlessly crisp, paired with a high-voltage marinara sauce.

Simplicity can seem ingenious, as in the fettucine pomodoro e basilico, which combined fresh pasta with tomato and basil to mellifluous advantage. Linguine with white clam sauce - fresh baby clams, garlic olive oil and clam broth - was a rich, buttery bowlful. We found smoky pleasure in the bucatini amatriciana, long thick pasta tubes with a lusty pancetta-enriched tomato sauce. Capellini pomorosso - angel hair tossed with shrimp, garlic, tomatoes and broccoli rabe - melded beautifully.

But as likeable as the pollo contandino was (succulent boneless poultry with sausage, potatoes and cherry peppers in a dark wine sauce), the dish was a trifle too salty .... The kitchen scored, though, with the salmone alla griglia, a generous slab of fish drizzled with a piquant Dijon mustard sauce. The cashew crust on the fillet of sole in wine sauce sparked a debate: ... As someone who has always found sole a bore, I thought the cashews added oomph; in fact, I'd order the dish again...