Ignacio Soraiano has just opened Sweet Temptation (1594 Airline, 713-861-0300) in the Heights. "There's not another Italian restaurant close by in the Heights area which is really growing," he says. "We're also just down the road from the produce market and the meat market, and Sysco is five minutes away, so trucks have to pass us every day going back and forth and they don't charge us for delivery. That's important for a new restaurant."

The area is dominated by Mexican restaurants. When Dish visited, the hostess said, "You do know this is an Italian restaurant?" According to her, "We have people coming in here asking for tacos." Given the name, it's surprising they're not asking for cakes, pastries and cookies.

Ignacio and his brother Rodrigo grew up together in the kitchens of some of the best Italian restaurants in the city, starting with washing dishes at Vincent's and Nino's. "As soon as we finished washing dishes, we'd go over and watch the chefs prepare the food, and that's how we learned," says Ignacio. They also had stints at Arturo's, La Griglia and Birraporetti's.

The Sweet Temptation menu, while not extensive, features many pasta dishes. A sampling of the chicken pesto pasta yielded two surprises — the pasta was fresh, not dried, and the pesto was freshly made. A dessert of tiramisu was outstanding...