$25 AND UNDER; In an Old Apothecary, a Cure for the Common Trattoria

WHEN I visit a restaurant for the first time, I almost always enter believing I'm going to enjoy my meal. But once in a while I sense that a place is going to be special, and that's how I felt about Locanda Vini & Olii, a mom-and-pop trattoria that opened a month ago in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

The beautiful space, which had been a pharmacy for 130 years, certainly contributed to this feeling. The woodwork has been lovingly restored, and many old features have been left intact, like small wooden apothecary drawers, set sideways into the wall for holding supplies, and rolling wood ladders and old counters used for a small bar and to display desserts.

Care seems to have been given to every detail, including the overhead lights, dim enough to create a moody ambience yet illuminating each table perfectly. The wine lists are glued to bottles, one for white, one for red, as if they were labels.

Even so, if it were one more trattoria with the same old food, no matter how attractive, it would provoke yawns. But Locanda's menu is full of dishes perhaps unsettling to those expecting the standard issue. Clearly, it is the personal expression of the owners, François Louy, from Milan, who was a manager for the Cipriani restaurants, and his wife, Catherine de Zagon Louy, from Florence, who was a manager at Balthazar.

Starting with the fragrant Tuscan bread, made without salt, the Louys do things their own way. Instead of a dish of olive oil, they set out arugula blended with pine nuts and oil like a pesto, nicely bitter and just right with the bread.

Appetizers may be as unexpected as tongue marinated in white wine and herbs, boiled, thinly sliced and sautéed until mellow and nutty and served with a parsley sauce ($7). Or bresaola with pears ($7.75), a play on prosciutto with melon using fine air-dried beef and an unsweetened pear sauce. Shrimp are served with wonderful chickpeas flavored with rosemary ($8).