Unpretentious Tavolo fits into the neighborhood

Meatball panino (above left) and sauce-less pizza with arugula, prosciutto, and ricotta (above right) are two of the high points at Tavolo. (Photos by Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

I have seen the future of restaurants, and it is Tavolo. This Dorchester pizza and pasta place from Chris Douglass (Icarus, Ashmont Grill) is small, unpretentious, and a good fit for its neighborhood. It surely heralds a wave of similar spots in pockets around town - we are scaling back our entertainments, we don't want to drive far and squander gas. New restaurants have grown grand and plenty in the past few years. If restaurant rows have been inflated, consider Tavolo a correction. Perhaps we should have been eating more like this all along.

Entrees top out at $16 for a hefty brick of lasagna, which is satisfying and cheesy. It is not fancy. It's comfort food. Cocktails are $8-$10, and bottles of wine go no higher than $40. Somber times demand festive settings, and Tavolo does its job with an aesthetic that could be termed daycare modern. Several walls are painted black and covered with tiny, chalklike doodles of creatures and pizzas and spaceships and utensils and spouting whales. Other walls feature bright paintings of roosters, canvases that look like the work of an outsider artist with a poultry fetish. Dangling spherical, lacy-patterned lights resemble brains. It's cute - casual enough for kids, stylish enough for an after-work gathering with friends. There's a big bar with TVs, and the menu lends itself to takeout.

If you want to take the (semi)fancy route, you can start with a refreshing cocktail of grapefruit juice, prosecco, and Campari, then move on to antipasti, pasta, and wine. Antipasti include marinated olives, heads of roasted garlic, and an assortment of cured meats and cheeses. Tuscan beans are garlicky and good for smashing on bread; broccoli rabe brings a nice bitter bite and some green to the table. The prosciutto isn't the best I've ever had, and the anchovies are on the fishier side, but it's hard to complain at $2-$5 a pop. (Of course, if you roamed farther up Dot Ave., you could get a delicious bahn mi for the same sum, but let's not argue antipasti and oranges.)

Chef Maxwell Thompson's pasta comes in many iterations. Spaghetti alla Vodka features a pinkish-red sauce that tastes pleasantly reminiscent of Campbell's cream of tomato. Again, comfort is the name of the game here. It's a bit monotone on its own, but you can order it with meatballs for an extra $6, and Tavolo's meatballs are worth ordering: a savory mix of veal and beef, salty and satisfying. Garganelli carbonara will win your heart while contributing to its demise, an eggy, buttery, pancetta-and-cheese fest. Pappardelle Bolognese is a tasty version, though the meat mixture tastes less rich than in some Bologneses; the sauce just coats the tender noodles in authentic Italian style. Cannelloni with squash, ricotta, and sage is too sweet, tasting like dinner and dessert in the same casserole dish.

All of the wine is available by the glass or the bottle; the bottle price is always four times the glass price. The wines are Italian, with eight whites and eight reds. They're basic (no one bothered to list the vintages) but well chosen, drinkable and easily paired with food.

You can also take the not-fancy-at-all route and get pizza and beer, one of the world's great love matches. Moretti, Stella, and a Hoegaarden hefeweizen are among the brews on tap: $4.75 each. Only one of the pies involves tomato sauce, something the friendly servers are sure to mention every time - perhaps a practice born of one too many complaints. The saucy pie, a quattro formaggi, is somewhat disappointing. It may have four kinds of cheeses, but none of them in any great quantity, and the sauce is on the sweet side. It's a step up from frozen pizza in flavor; its crust is quite good, however, crisp on the bottom and not bready. Put twice as much cheese on top and it would be vastly improved. A sauce-less pizza with arugula, prosciutto, and ricotta is delicious, however, the same good crust with judicious, complementary toppings.

There are several salads - the obligatory greens, caprese, and beet, plus a panzanella. The bread cubes are infused with tangy vinegar and set against artichokes, cucumbers, bits of red onion, and a leaf of arugula here and there. For more bread, there are four panini. One that features chicken, mozzarella, and pesto is tasty enough but nothing I'd need to order again. The meatball panino, however, is swooningly delicious. Take those great Tavolo meatballs, slice them between two pieces of crusty bread, layer on marinara and provolone, and squish in a sandwich press till the cheese becomes molten, stretching from your mouth back to the sandwich when you bite. I shared it with a friend I dine with frequently; I never thought he might claw food out of my hand before. "This sandwich is man nirvana," he said.

Tavolo continues to keep things simple at dessert: There's gelato (vanilla, chocolate, coffee, and pistachio), sorbet (cherry and blackberry), and thin biscotti studded with dried cherries. All are fine if you need dessert, though the pistachio gelato is better than fine - it tastes wonderfully like roasted nuts.

Tavolo is located in the Carruth, an upscale building right near the Ashmont T in Peabody Square that is part condos, part affordable rental units. It embodies a dream for Dorchester, that upward mobility in progress can exist side by side with upward mobility achieved: a new South End. (The results are still out - the condos were selling slowly, and the building has shifted toward a rent-to-own model.) The restaurant straddles the same line as the Carruth itself. Some may wish Tavolo would lean further in one direction - lower the prices or up the style. But if the times teach us anything, it's the importance of balance.

Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com.