By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Critic

CRANSTON -- I like a restaurant that has a fish dressed as a mobster for an icon.

Eat With the Fishes, a new restaurant in Cranston, has a big-lipped fish, dressed top to bottom in a wide-banded fedora and a blue suit with a big, wide blue tie. His name is Scarfish, and he makes recommendations -- the kind you shouldn't refuse -- all over the menu.

The restaurant is decked out in tones of aqua and blue, and in the center of the main dining room are two large aquariums with large seafoam-green orbs that dangle above the tanks, giving an odd luminescence to the dark space.

And the space is dark -- and vast. Once inhabited by the club Challenges, there are three enormous rooms -- one of which has hardwood floors and sports the open kitchen and bar. Clearly, care has been taken to give the decor a fish theme and make the large space less ominous. But even with all the nice little touches, there's just too much void to fill, and you're left, appropriately enough, with the feeling of eating in a large, empty fishbowl.

Seafood specialties

With a name such as Eat With the Fishes, it's to be expected that seafood would make up much, if not all, of the menu. But the name is as much a take on the euphemism "sleeps with the fishes" from The Godfather as it is of seafood -- so the menu is also Italian. It was designed by executive chef Dan Jackson, who mans the kitchen at Olives in Providence, Fishes' sister restaurant.

Appetizers include a long list of favorites, from calamari, deep fried with hot peppers, garlic and vinegar sauce Federal Hill style, to clam cakes. There are even fried smelts.

Something I don't see often -- clams oreganata -- is there, too. Sort of a take on the classic clams casino, native littleneck clams are stuffed with a mixture of bread crumbs seasoned heavily with oregano and garlic, chopped tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.

And like most versions of clams casino, this dish had a light herb flavor, but suffered from a mushy, glue-like texture.

So I more than satisfied myself with cauliflower fritta -- deep-fried tender bits of cauliflower made even more delectable when dipped into a chunky cream-cheese dip flecked with spinach and tiny bites of tender, astringent artichokes. In fact, everything on the table was more delectable when dipped into this stuff -- bread, fingers . . .

It's amazing how good something can be when it's left to its own flavor -- while there was nothing flashy about a Caesar salad, it was packed with the tastes of garlic and anchovies tossed over crunchy romaine lettuce.

Most of the dishes here are like that: While they are certainly presented in a pleasing way, they are simply old favorites known throughout Rhode Island.

An excellent example is a dish of littlenecks served aglio e olio over linguine. If I were going to name a state dish, I think this would be it. And Eat With the Fishes makes a fine version: The use of native littlenecks with lots of garlic and oil, seasoned with chopped clams and herbs, is the perfect combination of indigenous ingredients such as clams put to good use.

It's fresh, simple and extremely tasty -- the clams swim in a sweet broth peppered with garlic, and in this version, sliced red peppers. It's perfect for dipping pieces of Italian bread.

Saffron scallops are a venture into more artistic territory -- and proof that chef de cuisine Coleman Hanover, a Johnson & Wales graduate, can pull off more than just clam cakes and fried fish. Pillowy scallops are grilled and placed around a mound of buttery, seasoned smashed red bliss potatoes topped with steamed julienned carrots and squash.

All these are fine on their own, but exquisite when paired with a saffron cream sauce. Bright yellow-orange, its flavor borders on being too sweet until it is perfectly pulled back by the layered flavor of caramelized shallots, bits of which rest in its pool.

Other offerings

Service is friendly, fast and unobtrusive but there is little finesse -- Eat With the Fishes has the kind of service where you'll be asked to keep your dirty fork between courses. Still, our server belonged to that class of waitress who is so fast you don't see her move from table to table and at the same time manages to make you feel as if you are part of her family.

There are a lot of things for landlubbers on the menu -- sirloin steak, chicken with cherry peppers and sausage -- as well as pizzas. On Thursdays and Sundays, a clambake-style meal of clam cakes, chowder, corn on the cob and watermelon is offered.

Desserts fall into the same mold as the rest of the menu, a narrow list of standbys meant to appeal, headed -- of course -- by the ubiquitous tiramisu. There was, though, a venture into pastry pizazz with a giant almond lace cookie molded to cup two scoops of ice cream (neither house-spun) -- pistachio and vanilla. Between drizzlings of raspberry coulis and the creamy green sauce made from the melting of the ice creams, the pieces of crunchy, buttery cookie made for a fun spoonful.

Eat With the Fishes, 355 Atwood Ave., Cranston, 943-0404. Casual. Reservations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Open for lunch and dinner from 12 to 10 p.m. Tue-Sun. V, MC, AM. High chairs and booster seats available. Ample parking.