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The ladies who lunch are amused over who knows what, reveling in the elegance and the pampering of Albuquerque's latest food darling, Bravo Cucina Italiano.

They come here because it makes them feel privileged (because they, for the most part, are). Execs and power suits come here because it is the place to see and be seen, the place to wine and dine clients.

The rest of us come because it's nice to feel like the upper crust without having to sell the minivan.

Oh yes, and then there's the food, excellent and in large portions for the most part but somehow overshadowed by the upscale neo-Roman ruin ambience, the polished attentiveness of the Bravo staff and that feeling of exclusivity, of feeling you really could afford anything at Williams Sonoma, located steps away in swanky ABQ Uptown.

It's easy to forget that this is a chain restaurant, but believe me, this is no Olive Garden.

Recently, for example, a manager dashed to our table and breathlessly told us he had been horrified to notice from across the room that our salads looked "overdressed," too close to that damning culinary precipice of wilt. Gasp!

You might have thought a giant winged insect had just strolled across our table for the red-faced concern he showed. My friend assured him that the dressing - a creamy Parmesan - was perfectly fine. As for my salad, a lovely crisp Caesar with house-made croutons, I enjoyed every last drop of the perfectly crafted dressing. No sog, no foul. A wonderful start.

That's the attention to detail Bravo aspires to. Pasta dishes are swirled into high-rise nests, not slopped onto the plate. Meats and fish are grilled tenderly. Wood-fired pizzas are magical mosaics. Sauces are lighter, complex, infused with herbs and robust tomato. Breads are golden, crispy crusted and airy and made in-house.

Having trouble deciding which appetizer to choose? Opt for the appetizer sample ($11.99), which includes two homemade cheese raviolis cloaked in alfredo sauce; meaty bits of saut‚ed mushrooms, caramelized onions and fresh tomato on toasted ciabatta bread; and gossamer battered calamari so tender and tasty I absolutely could not stop eating them. So I didn't.

The items are served in a 2-foot, three-tiered carrier that certainly attracts attention.

Main course selections include traditional dishes such as spaghettini bolognese ($8.99 lunch, $10.99 dinner), lasagne ($9.99 lunch, $13.79 dinner), with both alfredo and bolognese sauce ribboned throughout, and an eggplant Parmesan ($10.99, lunch and dinner) served with a beautifully simple spaghetti with savory garlic and olive oil that almost no other restaurant in town has mastered.

Bravo also jumps gleefully into the more creative realms with dishes such as grilled chicken and shrimp scampi ($12.49 lunch, $14.29 dinner) nuanced with notes of lemon and garlic and toothsome grilled asparagus.

Desserts also offer another tough decision, so once again we opted for the tower of three choices ($12.95), which include heavenly versions of tiramisu, creme brulée and cheesecake from the famous Carnegie Deli in Manhattan. Even the ladies who lunch took note of our luscious largess.

But even more impressive than the food was the care, knowledge and flirtatious character of our waiter Gabriel, who knows his way around the ambitious wine list and around the world.

Maybe that's what the ladies who lunch were so amused about.