We finally got back over to Gold’s — the restaurant, not the gym. We’d gotten accustomed to hearing it recommended, but the wait was too long the last time we’d come to check it out. But this was a Tuesday, so we were in luck.

It bills itself as a "wood-fired grille & caffé," and the atmosphere is as informal as this suggests. You walk into a wrap-around mural arbor of trees, and then a small dining room that warmly continues the wood theme: dark-stained pine tables are left bare rather than covered with bistro paper. A 10-seat bar shares the space, and the pizzeria-style kitchen seems to as well, since it’s so wide open.

The dining and cooking areas overlap at a cold case displaying desserts, all of which are made there. I like the idea of the kitchen staff hearing an occasional ummm from appreciative customers — of which there are plenty, judging from the busy take-out business during our visit.

The menu is eclectic, though leaning toward Italy — pizza and 10 pastas. The soups, salads, and other starters hail from elsewhere, except for the lone grilled crostini ($6.95). Beginning with our waitress’s recommendation, goat cheese pizza ($11.95), we complemented it with a Caesar salad ($5.95) heavy on the shredded Parmesan. The pizza crust was especially thin and as flavorful as a cracker, fortified with more than white flour. The basil and oregano were fresh, and though the spinach was the frozen kind, it was dolloped around the pizza along with chèvre and tomato, so every bite was not the same experience.

The seafood cakes ($8.95) appetizer looked tempting, considering that it came with both roasted red pepper sauce and a red pepper salsa. But it was the bowl of seafood corn chowder ($7.95) that proved irresistible. Not available in a smaller portion, as are the other soups, it was as though someone saved us the trouble of deciding between the two varieties of chowder and poured together a cup of each. Its best feature was a delightful surprise: those little white cubes, the same size as their texture-contrast crouton companions, were scallop, not potato. More pieces of shrimp would have been welcome, but the active ingredient was abundant. The melt-in-your-mouth French bread and tangy sourdough we were served made for a nice accompaniment.

Two of the four of us had pasta, both attracted by red-sauce offerings, which were in the small minority. Johnnie felt like having the robust — for her — baked penne ($13.95), which had no meat but plenty of broccoli, cooked-down eggplant pieces and four cheeses. It was hearty and delicious. Our friend Peter is quite the food maven, so he chose something challenging on several counts, seafood diablo ($18.95). It was a success, for the most part. The thin capellini were sufficiently al dente for him, though on the soft side for me. There were scallops and tail-off shrimp — he liked that latter work done for him— but he most enjoyed the in-shell mussels that surrounded the dish, being a stickler for freshness, having gathered them in his Portsmouth youth. The fra diavola preparation wasn’t too hot to blast away the delicate seafood tastes, but he did wish that the plentiful shaved Parmesan had been offered on the side, since it overwhelmed as the red pepper did not.

My "peppered tuna" steak ($18.95) was fine, medium-rare as ordered, covered with cracked peppercorns. Spicy red pepper coulis dotted the plate here and there. A nice touch was that the central mound of mashed potatoes had been broiled a bit. Thick slabs of zucchini and yellow squash were grilled to smoky savor. Wood grilling did similarly well by Cynthia’s shrimp special ($19.95) — and by the asparagus generously substituted for the zucchini.

As for those house-made desserts: way to go. There are eight, all $5.95, plus ice cream or raspberry sorbet if your appetite isn’t up to them. The choices include chocolate-almond or Snickers cheesecakes; and carrot or chocolate-sour-cream cake. The most interesting looked to be the apricot-almond "bread pudding." The quotes are because what came out were two soft wedges of the sort of egg and bread medley usually served in pieces with a splash of cream. What a wonderful variation — apricot-embedded, slices of toasted almonds on top, plus an Amaretto sauce that was perfect for the accompanying flavors. Quite good.

For 11 years, Andrew Gold had a Middletown restaurant called Andrew’s, now the home of the Glass Onion. For the past half-dozen years, the chef-proprietor has run this place and developed the rep we’d heard about. Let’s hope that he has a middle name, in case — heaven forbid — Gold’s ever closes.

Bill Rodriguez can be reached at bill@billrod.com.