"But I've gained a lot more new regulars," said owner Young Chon, referring to his La Lieto Pasto. "We're building a name for ourselves and we want people to start thinking of us as La Lieto and not as the 'former Auntie Pasto's.'"

Since tweaking the menu to reflect his own personal tastes, Chon said the response has been positive.

"Most of the recipes are still from Auntie Pasto's, but what I didn't like, I changed," Chon said. "Now we're consistent and doing a good job with our pasta."

With soaring gas and electricity prices, Chon sees his early-evening "7 and 7" dinner promotion as helping shore up business.

"Every pasta is available for $7 before 7 p.m," he said.

"When I introduced this 7/7 last year, it was just supposed to be temporary. But, it has been so popular that I can't discontinue it."

Pasta choices abound during this two-hour span, but one of the most popular is the house-special seafood pasta (normally priced at $8.95), which consists of a heaping mound of noodles covered in a white-wine-and-tomato sauce and topped with bits of mahi mahi, calamari, mussels and clams.

"It's definitely one of our best sellers," Chon said. "For $7, it's what you would pay for a plate lunch. But you get so much more with this pasta dish."

Other selections found under the "House Pasta" heading include the manicotti, which is stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with a tangy red marinara sauce and a lasagna roll.

Chon and his cooks also prepare assorted pasta with such traditional sauces as marinara (with or without meat), meatball, creamy pesto, mushroom, fresh clams, spinach-and-cream, carbonara and sausage-and-peppers.

"Aside from the seafood pasta, two of our other specialties include the chicken cacciatore and the spinach and cream," Chon said. "Our customers tell us we're doing a good job, which is encouraging because it lets us know that we're on the right track."

In addition to pasta, La Lieto — which translates to joyful and happiness in English — offers a list of antipasti, salads, entrees and five different types of pizzas.

The nine- to 10-inch diameter pies range in price from $8.95 for a cheese pizza to $11.95 for one that's topped with sausage, artichoke, feta and olives.

Other prices here start as low as $2.75 for a simple tossed salad and go no higher than $14.95 for the veal marsala and the cacciuco, an Italian-style bouillabaisse of sorts.