What makes a great Italian restaurant? That's a tough one because there are so many variables, including a diner's level of familiarity with "great" Italian food. I know a lot of people who think Olive Garden is the primo ultimo in Italian cuisine, largely because they've never been exposed to anything else.

It's getting much harder to find the kind of Italian restaurants that defined the word "great" a generation or two ago. Once, America was flooded by Italian immigrants who brought with them the unique culinary skills and traditions of their native regions. Now another century has turned and we find mostly second, third and even fourth generation Italians trying to preserve and maintain the legacy of their predecessors with varying degrees of success.

The chain concept is ubiquitous in American culture. Got a good idea? Franchise it! Nowhere is this more true than in the food service industry. I mean, listen to that phrase: "food - service - industry." How sterile and unappetizing is that? And yet, that's what has become of the rich culinary experience that once was Italian dining: it's now an "industry."

Ever since Ettore Boiardi became "Chef Boyardee" Americans have been fed a diet of bland prepackaged food marketed under Italian names - food noted only for its consistent sameness. Much of what's served up as Italian food is actually created by and for Americans, but given fancy pseudo-Italian names in order to appear sophisticated and continental. But does calling a weiner a "hot dog" make it eligible for inclusion in the AKC?

Okay, off the soap box and back to the topic. Food and atmosphere are essential to any Italian restaurant. But there are intangible qualities that elevate a place to the level of "great. Allow me to introduce you to such a place and see if you can figure it out.

Zarrelli's Italian Restaurant brought Italy to South Boulevard in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. I say "brought" because, unfortunately, it is now just a pleasant memory following the health-related retirement of its family patriarch. But, oh man, was it a GREAT Italian restaurant. The moment you walked through the door, it was like coming home. There were no strangers. Aniello "Neal" Zarrelli made everybody feel like a member of the Zarrelli family. Even on your first visit you felt like you'd been there a hundred times. Neal came to America from Naples in 1948 and brought all of his family's wonderful traditions - and recipes - with him. His restaurant

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