Great red sauce outside the North End

Bocelli's ravioli are thick, king-size pillows of perfectly al dente pasta filled with mild herbed ricotta in a deliciously simple, tangy red sauce. (Globe Photo/Wiqan Ang)

The North End is famous as the place to go for good, traditional-style Italian food and baked goods. But parking is impossible, and even if you find a spot, the streets are filled with tourists.

Happily, Hanover Street, or another place where you can get great red sauce, killer cannoli, and the ambience to go with it, exists in other pockets around the area. One is Medford, where you'll find Bocelli's on a stretch of Main Street that is also home to an Italian bakery and a market with imported foods.

From the minute you walk through the door at Bocelli's and see two plaster Corinthian columns, a mural of a gondolier rowing on a Venice canal on one wall, and placemats adorned with the map of Italy, you feel like you're not in Medford anymore.

Bocelli's is owned by Nick Catricala and his wife, Enza. The place, which they bought seven years ago, used to be DePasquale's and has been an Italian restaurant and pizzeria since 1921. Nick and Enza do the cooking, and their daughters also work at the restaurant. "It's a family-run place," says Nick Catricala, with a trace of his native Calabria in his voice. "It's like our home."

The food is old-school; it's not fancy but it's satisfying, and some dishes, particularly ones with red sauce, are very, very good.

Eggplant rollatine ($5.95 for two) are fat logs of fried eggplant rolled with mozzarella and ricotta, sprinkled with grated romano and herbs (basil was especially noticeable), and covered in a red sauce bursting with the taste of ripe tomatoes.

Fried calamari ($9.95) is a plateful of tender rings and tentacles in a batter that is not too bready or overpowering. On one visit, the tentacles seem to have been in the Frialator a lot longer than the rings, and their batter is much darker and crisper, but the seafood is still tender.

Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto ($7.95) and caprese salad ($8.95) are both disappointing: The asparagus are overcooked, the prosciutto too thick, and the salad of sliced mozzarella and tomatoes with roasted red peppers and black olives suffers from underripe, tasteless red fruit.

Enza Catricala makes the ravioli ($9.50) and they are thick, king-size pillows of perfectly al dente pasta filled with mild herbed ricotta and served in a deliciously simple, tangy red sauce.

Lasagne with meatballs ($14.95) is a classic version of the favorite, though I would have liked more sauce. The diner who orders it doesn't like the browned, crispy cheese on top (though I love it like that). No one is impressed with the meatballs, which should more fairly have been called bread crumb balls.

Traditional chicken cacciatore ($11.95) is made with chicken breasts that haven't absorbed the flavor of the red sauce, with its generous slices of cooked red bell pepper and onion. The chicken is a bit rubbery, but the spinach - most entrees come with pasta or spinach - is tender and nicely seasoned with oil and garlic.

Overflowing with calamari, shrimp, and mussels, pasta frutti di mare ($15.95) has a lackluster white sauce, and there isn't enough of it (to paraphrase the old line). It can also be ordered with the restaurant's exceptional red sauce, which we should have done.

Pizza isn't on the menu, but we keep seeing pies coming out of the kitchen, so we order a large Margherita ($12.95). The pie, cooked in a brick oven, has a thin, crisp crust and just the right proportion of sauce to cheese, and, in a nice touch, a few leaves of fresh basil and a couple of slices of tomato on top.

Bocelli's has a full liquor license (and a pretty old dark-wood bar in the front dining area), and in addition to wines, offers several Italian beers and Sam Adams.

Cannoli ($3.50 each) are filled with a light, not-too-sweet ricotta mixture, and ricotta pie (our server pronounces it ri-gotta) is a lovely slice of creamy sweetened baked cheese topped with mixed berries ($5.50). The tiramisu ($5.50), though, has a squishy consistency except for a thick layer of mascarpone that almost tastes like cream cheese.

To steal another line: Leave the tiramisu, take the cannoli (and the ricotta pie).