Opening in 1943, Forlini's Italian Restaurant is a vestige of southern Manhattan's once sizable Italian enclave. Located at 93 Baxter Street, the edge of what has since become Chinatown's northern border, this old school spot is serendipitously sequestered from the cheap t-shirts and tawdry kitsch of today's Little Italy, the receding strip and farcical tourist trap that is Mulberry Street on the other side of Canal.

You enter Forlini's under a large awning, one of the only marquees on the street not displaying East Asian characters. To the right of the foyer lies a Bourdain-worthy dive: a dark, dingy space with flat screens for sports lovers and service specializing in large pours of whiskey, cheap wine and Budweiser. You'll swing by here after supper.

Through the other side of the vestibule you'll find a brightly lit dining room with stucco walls, lined with faded pink banquettes and large oil paintings. The place never gets too crowded in the evenings, as Forlini's funds its operation primarily through lunch service for judges, lawyers and clerks from the nearby New York State Supreme Court building.

However, about once every month, regulars, families and friends gather in the large wood-paneled back room. They come for the throwback spectacle of Forlini's dinner show with singer Angelo Ruggiero, who performs Sinatra standards, Neapolitan classics and even Neil Diamond tunes to a crowd old enough to remember the Gallo assassination at the original Umberto's Clam House just up the street.

With an affable stage persona, Ruggiero croons crowd-pleasers and takes requests from the audience, singing with impressive pitch on a far from perfect PA system. Though there is no band and some of the numbers are, like many of the dishes, heavy on the cheese, that doesn't matter; Ruggiero's transparent passion for performing and knack for working the room are the perfect ingredients for anyone who appreciates a little sentimentality with his red sauce.

ESSENTIAL INFO:

-Total Cost: About $60 per person for a cocktail, wine, dinner and $10 cover for the show. Tax and tip included.

-Angelo performs roughly once a month at Forlini's. While the show is advertised to start at 7:30pm, Ruggiero tends to hit closer to 8:00pm.

-The food is generally fine and pretty much what you expect when walking through the front door. The menu is full of Italian American staples, none of which will blow you away, but will get the job done. The clams oreganata and baked ziti Siciliana (with fried eggplant) are stand outs.

-Forlini's accepts and encourages reservations for Friday nights with Angelo. Call ahead at (212) 349-6779.

NEARBY:

-After a drink or two at the dive, head over to Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for some seriously unique flavors. Then, hit the Chinatown Fair to play one of the best arcade games ever made. Both are featured here.