Even in a recession, Seattle feels as if it’s bursting to full with new restaurants, and we tend to get caught up writing about the new. With money tight and dining dollars precious, sometimes you want the comfort of a place that’s been around, settled in, and hit its stride. Montlake’s Cafe Lago thrives on business from the local neighborhood alone, with it’s succinct menu of apps, pasta, pizza, and a steak. This week I enjoyed a solid meal the equivalent of a favorite old book or album, starting with a wicked caponata (the eggplant salsa of my people) and ending with proper panna cotta, which came with a simple orange caramel sauce and suffered none of that insecure, young chef bluster that effs this dessert up much of the time. In the middle, we gorged on not one but two servings of gnocchi, the kind that results from years of experience of daily kneading and adjusting to the minutiae of Seattle weather. Cafe Lago, 2305 24th Ave. East, 329-8005, open daily at 5pm