If restaurants were trains, think of Trattoria Tosca as the Little Engine That Could. Since Harvey McLain, who also owns the adjacent Turtle Bread bakery, opened this Linden Hills restaurant two years ago, patrons have witnessed a revolving door of chefs pass through its Italian kitchen. But now under the leadership of Ian Gray, Tosca's longest-serving head chef with 11 months on the job, the cozy neighborhood spot has settled into a groove. Yet, on several recent visits, despite the top-notch food coming from Gray's kitchen, Tosca's dining room wasn't nearly as full as its menu merits.

When you go, you'll get to experience one of the rarest dishes in fine dining -- the properly dressed salad. Whereas so many good restaurants drown their salads in vinaigrette, Tosca offers three that barely glisten with dressing but still pack the necessary flavor punch to make the vegetables dance. The green salad ($7), featuring goat cheese-topped dates and almonds, benefits from a careful drizzle of sherry vinaigrette, which ties together the crunch of the nuts with the sweetness of the dates. Also drawing raves was the beet carpaccio ($9), with a sprinkling of sea salt balancing the sweetness of the tender spheres of blushy beet, the tang of pickled onions, the creaminess of avocado, the crunch of arugula and the soft bite of pecorino.

This justified restraint carries over to Tosca's pasta dishes, available as half and full orders. When alfredo sauce is listed as an ingredient, many times diners can expect noodles swimming in gloppy sauce, which makes the tagliatelle with chicken confit ($8/$15) even more of a revelation. With just enough sauce swirled into the pasta to coat each strand and a sprinkle of buttery breadcrumbs, the dish is rich enough to make you swoon, but light enough that you won't feel like you ate a brick. The spice of the tomato sauce that accompanies the green orechetti ($9/$16) would overwhelm the palate if not for the cooling dollops of lemon mascarpone that luxuriously melt into the bowl.

The dessert menu's brevity -- just four dishes -- still offers enough for everyone's preference, whether it be chocolatey, fruity or carb-centric. An amaretto chocolate custard ($8) makes you forget that Jell-O pudding cups even exist with its deep cocoa flavor and silky texture. The whipped cream may seem superfluous, but you'll want to swirl it into the chocolate cream and savor every spoonful. A lemon crème brûlée mirrored its chocolate companion's smoothness, though it could have benefited from a crunchier caramelized shell, and the accompanying shortbread cookie was utterly forgettable. Cinnamon banana bread pudding ($7) stuffed so much fruit and nuts into its dense folds that it could have passed for a fruit kugel.

Trattoria Tosca may not have had the smoothest start in the business, but it certainly has hit its stride with crave-inducing meals and a friendly atmosphere. But it shouldn't just be a second choice when the wait is too long at Broders'. Tosca deserves a visit on its own merits, and you'll find plenty of reasons to turn that initial meal into the first of many.

St. Paul's Sweets Bakeshop celebrates the grand opening of its Minneapolis branch on Saturday 4/9. There will be free chair massages (11 a.m.-2 p.m.), a coffee tasting with Kopplin's Coffee (1-2 p.m.), live music (2-6 p.m.) and a cupcake walk (with cupcakes as prizes) at 3 p.m.