In a town with an inordinate number of good Italian restaurants, even an excellent Italian restaurant needs a specialty to stand-out from the crowd.

Avanzare’s specialty is great ravioli.

This restaurant, located on 14 th Avenue in the old town, serves a number of very good dishes.

In recent months, we have enjoyed the veal piccata ($21), veal scaloppini topped with a lemon, caper and butter sauce served over angel hair pasta; the shrimp alla norma penne ($21), shrimp, eggplant, roasted peppers, garlic, and San Marzano tomatoes sautéed in extra virgin olive oil tossed with imported penne pasta and shaved ricotta; and whole yellow tail snapper ($22) oven roasted with garlic, lemon, red onion and spinach with a touch of extra virgin olive oil.

All these dishes were very good. And Avanzare also makes excellent eggplant parmesan ($17).

But on every visit, we have been tempted by at least three wonderful-sounding house-made raviolis of the day, which you can order either in a half-portion as a primi piatti or as an entrée. One evening, my husband tried the Tuscan roast pork ravioli in the classic Sicilian Sunday gravy. It turned out to be every bit as good as it sounds. It was the thoughts of the ravioli that kept us coming back.

So on our most recent visit, we decided to have a ravioli fest – and the three of us each had as our entrée one of the three homemade ravioli specials on that night’s menu.

Before you get to the ravioli, however, you will start with the antipasti. On previous visits, we have tried the clams oreganato ($8), baked clams topped with oregano bread crumbs, and the escargot, handkerchief gorgonzola ($9), an extremely tasty preparation of escargot sautéed with butter and garlic over pasta handkerchiefs topped with gorgonzola.

But the best of the appetizers, in our view, is the grilled shrimp and calamari ($9) tossed with garlic, lemon, oregano and olive oil. This extremely light dish is large enough to be shared by two. We tried sharing it among three and there almost was a scuffle at the end as we each grabbed for the fresh bread to mop up the last of this tasty sauce.

Following the antipasto come the house salads -- micro greens with gorgonzola served with a home-made balsamic vinaigrette. Very nice.

Finally, comes the ravioli. What makes Avanzare’s ravioli special is the super thin fresh pasta that encases the fillings. On this occasion, I tried the artichoke hearts, provolone and capicola ravioli ($19) in a puttanesca sauce that perfectly complemented this dish rather than overpowering it.

My husband tried the Italian sausage, sun-dried tomato and romano ravioli ($19) in Sunday gravy. This was an extremely tasty preparation in the classic Sicilian tomato sauce.

Our companion tried the veal, spinach and parmesan ravioli in a Bolognese sauce ($23) – an excellent preparation that is one of my favorites.

I would be hard-pressed to choose one over another as the best of these. All three were superb, and all plates were cleaned. Like the ravioli, Avanzare’s other pastas are all made on the premises as well. We can highly recommend the bacon and egg fettuccini ($18), whole wheat fettuccini prepared with pancetta, pecorino romano, parmigiano-reggiano in a brown butter sauce – and topped with a poached egg. This one is definitely not for the diet conscious.

Also not for dieters is Avanzare’s chocolate cake – a sinfully rich cake that is hard to beat.

In a town with no shortage of good Italian restaurants, Avanzare ranks high on the list. And it is definitely the place to go if you have a hankering for ravioli.

I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com .

The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.

Hours: 5-9 pm, Monday through Saturday

Bar: Full bar

Address: 1932 14 th Avenue, Vero Beach, 32060

Telephone: 772-978-978

Review first published: February 5, 2009