by MARK SLUTSKY

Wood panelling covers pretty much every available surface at Tony du Sud, a restaurant on Fairmount that's been around since the late '70s without, it seems, ever significantly altering its strangely appealing décor and Italian-North American sensibility. The place is dimly lit, it's decorated with elaborately framed oil paintings of sea scenes and sailing ships, and the servings are so solid and filling that by the end of the meal I had to seriously entertain the possibility that I was going to pass out right there at the table.

We visited Tony du Sud on a weekday night armed only with a bottle of white Côte-du-Rhones from the dep next door. Though the place seems to really fill up with families and older couples on the weekends, there were few other diners the night we visited, giving the large, three-roomed restaurant a spooky feeling.

The restaurant offers up about five table d'hôte choices every day, mostly in the $15–$17 price range. Two of us chose those, with the third member of our party deciding to go à la carte. Our first course showed up quickly, before we'd taken more than a few sips of wine. One of my dining partners chose the eggplant parmigiana, the other had the prosciutto and melon and I went for the Caesar salad.

The eggplant was liberally drenched in a delicious marinara sauce and covered with a very large helping of melted mozzarella (Tony du Sud's generosity with the cheese would, an hour later, nearly prove to be the end of me). The sauce was excellent - tangy, as my friend put it, and just a little sweet. It was just the right consistency, neither too thick nor too watery, and the eggplant itself was thinly sliced and tender. My Caesar salad - extremely large for an appetizer - was a classic of its kind, with pieces of crisp romaine lettuce, big crunchy croutons and a very tasty dressing that didn't skimp on the garlic. My other buddy's dish, though, the prosciutto and melon, failed to impress. The prosciutto had an unpleasant bite to it and the melon was under-ripe, too crunchy and not sweet enough.

We were all feeling pretty full once we'd finished the starters, but the heavy hitters were yet to come. One of my pals had ordered the Fettucini Antoinette, the other chose the veal parmigiana, and I picked the Trio Pasta, a large plate loaded with three different pasta offerings. The Antoinette was served with a rosée and white wine sauce, with bits of ham, shallots, mushroom and fresh garlic mixed in. Like everything else, it was huge. My friend's very particular about her pasta, and she swore that the noodles were perfectly cooked. The sauce was tasty, as were the ingredients, save the ham, which had an unappealing flavour.

My other friend pronounced satisfaction upon tasting his veal, which was served with the customary side of spaghetti. Covered, as many things that night were, in cheese, it was thin and perfectly cooked. My plate was loaded up with servings of fettuccine alfredo, tortellini, and spinach cannelloni. The fettuccine was plain and not particularly interesting, though a vigorous application of grated parmesan helped. The tortellini and cannelloni were both defended by a thick coating of mozzarella, which I had barely breached before I had to call it a day. For the record, the cannelloni, or what I tasted of it, was very good.

Our table d'hôtes included dessert, so we chose the crème caramel and the tiramisu. The crème caramel was a hit at the table, with my pal noting with satisfaction that it wasn't, as she feared, too sweet. The tiramisu was of the cakey variety, and it seemed quite scrumptious though none of us could take more than a few bites of it. Like everything else it was filling and very satisfying, if a little intimidating.

Tony du Sud
Address: 25 Fairmount W. (at Clark)
Phone: 274-7339
Hours: 5pm–11pm, daily
Best features: solid, filling Italian meals
Alcohol: bring your own wine
Vegetarian friendly: yes
Credit cards: yes
Wheelchair access: yes
Price: $15–$20 per person, including appetizers and
dessert, before tax and tip
Rating: ** out of ****