Oh, I get it. Racks. When the press release crossed my desk, I naively thought this new North Miami Beach restaurant was a ribs joint, but one glance at the hostess spilling out of her tight black bustier set me straight.

Granted, the owner is Gary Rack, founder of Boca Raton's popular Coal Mine Pizza, but here it's all about lights, camera and action, especially on Thursday nights when this hot spot is a magnet for singles.

I confess to an aversion to over-the-top Italo-American spots like this that glorify mob culture by blasting movie scenes of exploding brains on a dozen screens. Still, there are tasty reasons to give Racks a try.

The decor of the sprawling, 4,000-square-foot space is Old World a la Epcot, with brick walls, red vinyl seats, glossy white subway tiles and a cozy market in the front. If the thumping music gets out of hand, you can escape to the wooden deck over the mangrove-lined Intracoastal, though the bugs or smokers may drive you back inside.

Some homey touches, like serving the wine in wide-mouthed tumblers, work, while others, like using grubby dish towels as napkins, don't. Baskets of toasty bread served with an odd, oily mash of olives and sun-dried tomatoes also fall flat.

In the afternoon, the staff wears black T-shirts and pleasant smiles. Ours clearly was hired more for her bubby personality than her knowledge of food or service, but it was the bubbles on the pizzas that really got my attention.

These thin, coal-fired babies with puffy, blackened edges and well-balanced toppings are the ticket here. Sweet tomato sauce, pools of nicely charred fiore di latte (cow's milk mozzarella) and lots of oil with fresh basil make one of these blistering pies worth the trip.

Prices are a bit high, but if you order carefully you can be quite satisfied. At lunchtime I had a surprisingly pristine branzino that charmed me beyond belief. The plump, juicy, super-fresh fillet was artfully arranged with gorgeous olives, capers, lemon wedges and an outrageously delicious jam made from sweet baby cherry tomatoes.

Other recommendable standards include a veal scallopine loaded with artichokes, mushrooms and capers as well as a mammoth portion of calamari with a tangy, sweet marinara sauce.

On the other hand, if I had only sampled the dense, bready meatball, I would not have returned. The softball-sized concoction is so full of dried herbs and garlic and covered with so much sweet red sauce and whipped ricotta that it is truly inedible -- especially at an insulting $11.

Executive chef Matthew Danaher clearly has experience and talent, but what comes out of his kitchen is wildly uneven. Many dishes go overboard with the heavy red sauce and overcooked garlic that lends a bitter edge.

Salads, on the other hand, are large, gently dressed and impressive. I thought that serving whole anchovies with Caesars had gone the way of the turntable, but there they were, a pair of plump, briny fish on perky romaine in a not-too-creamy dressing.

Other pluses include a well-capped espresso alongside one of the best little cannolo I have tasted.

The modest Cali-Italian wine list with lots of hearty reds works well enough with the robust fare, though no vintages are listed and prices are as much as four times retail. Quartino-sized pours are a nice touch. You can certainly consider instead one of the malty Italian brews from the Amarcord brewery named after director Federico Fellini's 1974 film. Like I said, it's all about lights, camera and action.

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