Gino Vuolo greets our table with a smile and attempts to talk over the festive din that fills his packed, 2-month-old Gino's Italian Ristorante and Bar. "Our business has tripled since moving out here," he says with a look that suggests he can't quite believe the crowds himself.

Out here is a small suburban mall on the northwestern outskirts of Meridian. Flanked on two sides by farm fields, it's a far cry from the 8th Street location in Downtown Boise where lack of business forced Vuolo to close his twin restaurants Gino's Grill (June 2008) and Gino's Italian Ristorante (in March).

He knew many of his customers lived in the suburbs and, with the country sliding toward recession, they simply quit coming to town. So Vuolo decided to go to them. And from the look of this gregarious Saturday night scene, the move to Meridian has done the trick.

We four Boiseans, on the other hand, had to drive a rainy Chinden Boulevard a half-hour to get to this new Gino's incarnation. But once inside, the soft light, high ceilings and comfortable vibe quickly take the chill off. So do a round of dirty martinis ($6.50 each) and prosecco and peach belinnis ($6). Those invigorating drinks give us time to sort through a menu that is both huge and decidedly familiar.

Vuolo hesitates to describe his fare as Italian-American, saying many of his recipes come straight from his grandmother's restaurant in Naples, but his big portions, long-simmered sauces, generous mounds of cheese and full-meal pastas and pizzas wouldn't be foreign to nearly any check-tableclothed Italian place in America.

Gino's decor is decidedly more contemporary, though, with its stylish, contrasting pumpkin and purple place settings.

Still, the button mushroom appetizer stuffed with sausage ($8) certainly reminds me of that sauce-driven, big-portioned Italian-American style. So too the baked ziti ($11) with penne, a tomato ragu and thick mozzarella and parmesan topping; the pasta bolognese ($11) with ample chunks of chuck; the veal saltimbocca ($20) stuffed with prosciutto and more mozzarella, and a red snapper ($24) napped in lemon, caper and plenty (perhaps too much) butter sauce.

As you've likely guessed by now, these dishes represent a traditional take I find less appealing - especially on the cusp of summer - than an arguably more progressive Italian style that falls toward the Mediterranean, that focuses on fresh, seasonal ingredients and a lighter touch.

Luckily, I found just that touch on a lunch visit. Gino's elegant appetizer of bright green asparagus spears dusted with parmesan ($7) was delicious. Accompanied by a crisp glass of Soave Classico ($8) from the restaurant's long list of reasonably priced wines and a little '40s jazz, that plate showed Italian cuisine's power to pull deep flavor from simple ingredients - and do it with an effortless, off-handed flourish that is, well, my kind of Italian.

Also my kind of Italian is the warmth of the waitstaff. Both eager to please and polished (nearly all of Vuolo's staff followed him from Boise to Meridian), they offered smart wine choices, quick service and an engaging geniality (apart from one well-meaning but harried Saturday night server.)

On a busy Wednesday night, one of those servers had the intuitive sense to suggest the salmon carpaccio ($9). Lightly smoked salmon cured in lemon, sprinkled with capers, garlic, olive oil and romano, it tasted big, bright and briny.

And even though the smoked boar shank ($26) veered old-school, that mammoth hunk of meat surrounded by house-made gnocchi and tomato sauce was succulent, maybe even sublime ... and reminded me there's a big difference between bad food and food that simply doesn't target the taste buds of one occasionally crotchety critic.

From the size of the crowds flocking to this new Meridian location, Gino Vuolo has delivered a restaurant expertly tuned to his clientele. And even a critic should occasionally confess that's what counts.

Guy Hand is a writer and radio producer specializing in food and agriculture. E-mail him at guyhand@nwfoodnews.com.