TABLES FOR TWO.(Crispo)(Restaurant Review)

CRISPO -- 240 W. 14th St. (212-229-1818)--Faced with Crispo's long, Seussian menu (zany typeface, lots of ham), it seemed natural to ask for some guidance. "Would you like to order vegetarian?" a pleasant but firm waiter began. "Are you allergic to pine nuts?" The table went for the bone marrow: four troughs of elemental, gooey pith. After the waiter's schoolteacher tone, prosciutto and figs, with velvety ribbons of meat swaddling the pink fruit, seemed best enjoyed as finger food.

Frank Crispo, who opened the restaurant three years ago after two decades in various New York kitchens, has a reputation as a chef's chef, but here he's put together a menu that will appeal to everybody (Crispo's policy of keeping entrees under twenty dollars helps the cause). The stricci, a dish of triangular ravioli sealed and striated with the prongs of a fork, was stuffed with butternut squash and had an earthy sweetness. The whole branzino was served with a cipolline onion at the throat, while the hanger steak balanced the delicate flavor of a red-wine reduction with its own ...