The husband and wife team that runs Rossini (he’s in the kitchen, she’s up front) has been around the block in San Antonio; they began with an Italian restaurant near the Medical Center, then moved it to Alamo Heights, and now they’ve moved again— to Castle Hills with a name change and menu makeover. There were previously flashes of inspiration; this time the spark seems to have ignited.

Rossini is smaller, much more cleanly designed—with an open kitchen—and the menu is far simpler, with aspirations of weekly change. An appetizer order of Parma e rucola, presented as a tangle of simply dressed arugula surrounded by pearlescent petals of Parma ham, is as remarkable for its restraint as for the quality. A main of amberjack, sautéed with hearts and bottoms of artichoke plus leek, is impeccably rendered—the fish crusty yet flaky, the sauce buttery yet balanced, the side of spinach appropriately second-fiddle. A glass of screwcap Pinot Grigio is all the more appropriate for being rustic.

Pasta proves less successful. A lunch serving of rigatoni rosati, coated in a creamy tomato sauce with cubes of chicken breast, has the ratio right: it’s all about the ideally cooked pasta, not excessive sauce. But the dish desperately needs salt and pepper—along with a little fresh basil for color if nothing else. Such quibbles aren’t deterring customers, however; in this honeymoon phase, we’ve encountered a 40-minute wait at lunch, almost unheard of in our fair city.