A reader writes on Italian dining in Burien:

There are twelve such restaurants in town including pizza places, and they are surprisingly good, each in its own way. My favorite is the cheapest and least pretentious plate service and tablecloth place, Vince's. Great food, fair prices, no hassles.

In particular, I would like to recommend Arcadia, at 17642 1st Ave. S, www.arcadiataste.com. We went there on Friday night; the specials were seafood ciopinno (spelling? Italian bouillabaisse) and blackened halibut, which latter I found quite tasty and the former, quite appetizing by sight and perfume from afar. In the $20 per person range before drinks. Good service, Patsy Cline, Eartha Kitt, et al jazz in the background.

The owner has... has made an heroic effort to upgrade her establishment. The restaurant, tucked away in a nondescript strip mall, has been remodeled and the menu upgraded. My meal tasted better to me this time, though my wife found the gyro plate as good as the one she had during two earlier visits a year ago. Tatziki sauce particularly fine; fresh brewed iced tea of the best kind. Far as I can tell, she (the owner, not my wife) deserves a fair review from you and corresponding boost to her clientele. The place was two-thirds empty on a Friday night; what a waste. As if Seattle had enough first-rate, reasonably-priced restaurants to leave any of them unattended.

Now, if we could only get a good breakfast place or two within a short walk of High Point (plus a neighborhood grocery store and/or retail mall closer than the California Ave train wreck of them, the promise of which unfulfilled leaves a mixed neighborhood on the ragged edge of being a slum), life would be good. CountrySide Café in Burien is by far the best, and still too far away.

For what it's worth. Ciao, chow and bon appetit, Ms. N.

Vince's in South Seattle was great, and there was much sorrow when it closed; good to hear a positive report on the Burien branch. Pretty much everybody who's ever been raves wildly about Bistro Baffi in Burien, named after the chef/owner's facial hair ("baffi" means mustache in Italian).

Anyone, any more intel on Italian in Burien?