TAKE THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE to Accurso´s, located at 5044 Main, for a romantic Italian dinner.

A Girl's Gotta Eat: Italian-style romance at Accurso's

By: Jennifer Friend

Posted: 9/23/02

Accurso's Restaurant and Catering Co. needs to be added to your list of places to take a special date. The dinner atmosphere is thick with romance. Dean Martin songs float through the air as you sit in a cozy booth with a red and white checked vinyl tablecloth. Old-fashioned hanging lights dimly accompany the soft glow of candles dripping layers of wax over fat wine bottles on each table and along the bar.

A squeaky front door announces the arrival of customers, who are greeted and seated by the bartender. Hopefully these people brought a hearty appetite and are ready for an Italian feast! Start with an antipasti like calamari ($6.95), if you are into that sort of thing. If you think squids are for kids, go for the breaded eggplant ($5.95), which is served with an excellent red sauce and provel cheese.

The dinner salad is traditional, with romaine lettuce, toasted garlic croutons, red onion and thick sliced roma tomatoes. The salad is complemented by a tangy Italian vinaigrette dressing. If you like bread with your salad instead of your meal, ask for the bread basket to be brought early. This sesame Italian bread is generously buttered and sprinkled with garlic and parsley flakes, then toasted so that the crust is chewy and the inside soft and warm.

By the time the main course arrives, you should be feeling soft and warm inside too, especially if you have been sampling offerings from the full bar or the wine list. My personal dinner favorite is the chicken Parmesan ($11.95). Two thick, tender chicken breasts are lightly breaded and smothered in provel cheese and red sauce. The finished product is then dotted with fresh grated parmesan and fresh parsley flakes, and served with a side of spaghetti. It makes my mouth water just writing about it.

Another favorite is the fettuccini Alfredo ($11.95). The pasta is cooked to a perfect texture, then mixed with a rich, buttery cream sauce that coats everything from your throat to your arteries on the way down. But taken in moderation, the taste is worth the health risk of the dubiously dubbed "heart attack on a plate."

Other favorites (OK, I have lots of favorites) include the shrimp spadini ($16.95) and filet mignon ($18.95). The shrimp spadini features shrimp marinated in mogia sauce that is charbroiled and layered on a bed of linguini with lemon butter sauce.

But enough about dinner. Many UMKC students will want to visit Accurso's for lunch, where the menu features over twenty sandwiches along with soup and salad choices. The meatball sandwich ($5.35) is served with thick, chewy bread and lots of mozzarella cheese. There is not very much red sauce, so ask for extra if you like the flavor. And mama mia - that's a spicy meatball! (Really!)

Other lunch offerings include homemade chili ($2.55 cup, $3.75 bowl), three varieties of vegetarian sandwiches ($4.95 - $5.55), three-cheese lasagna ($7.95), and a Reuben sandwich with corned beef, Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut on rye ($5.75). Combination lunches give the choice of a bowl of soup or salad with a half turkey club sandwich, or soup and salad for $5.95.

The restaurant has been located at 5044 Main for 17 years. The address has the distinction of being the oldest operating restaurant location in Kansas City - 95 years. Lunch hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner hours are 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Accurso's is open until 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The restaurant is expanding to provide more seating by moving the kitchen to the back; however, the renovations will not affect business. Accurso's accepts cash and credit cards, and orders can be placed ahead of time by calling 816-753-0810.

jfriend@unews.com