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Some people think of homemade raviolis, flaky calzones and sauce Bolognese as authentic Italian specialties, which would be true. But in the case of Familia Spadaro, they also seem to be inherited genetic traits. This is a family that cooks.

"I started when I was 11 years old," says Geralynn Spadaro, chef of Tutto Buono, "training in the kitchen with my father." Mom and Dad, Vito and Pat, operated Spadaro''s on Cannery Row for 16 years. "My sisters and brother and I all just grew up in the business," Geralynn continues, "and before that, we cooked with my grandparents, who were very much a part of our lives."

Today, Geralynn stays stays true to the legacy, her love of good, hearty Sicilian fare, given daily expression in the restaurant she operates with her two sisters, Michelle and Marielena. "My parents are here now, too, as support," she adds, "and before opening his own place, our brother John was here as well." John''s venture, Spado''s, quickly became a popular Salinas spot a couple of years ago.

"We all sort of went our own way for a while after graduating from school," Geralynn recalls. "At one point I didn''t really think I''d get back to cooking. But, because I enjoy it so much, I just came back to it. When you have the passion, it just stays with you. And, here we are."

The sisters launched their own place in 1989, with the huge task of remodeling before them. "I had done some traveling in Europe and we originally opened doing the whole tavola calda concept, " says Geralynn. "You see it a lot in Italy, where the hot food is all out on display and you just walk through and choose."

The idea of becoming a ristorante eventually won out, and they remodeled again, adding the large, high-backed booths done in colorful tapestry and dividing the center of the spacious, airy dining room. "People love to sit in them," Geralynn remarks, "whether they''re a party of two or six. They love the comfort and privacy." Warm, coral color-washed walls give the room warmth and huge, brightly-colored murals add entertainment for the eye.

It''s also hard to miss the brick oven that''s prominently on display, where a dozen-or-so pizzas are baked over a hot oak fire. The pizzetes are particularly popular at lunch along with the antipasti bar, a large selection of salads (fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, the Cobb with turkey roasted in-house, gorgonzola and bacon) oak-grilled sandwiches (eggplant and provolone, gorgonzola burger), cold sandwiches and house specialties (daily risotto, like the signature wild mushroom, done with porcinis and finished with pecorino cheese).

The dinner menu brings on a wider variety of house specialties--the bistecca Siciliana, a New York strip grilled in a coating of seasoned breadcrumbs, and the Tuscan-influenced rigatoni alla Bolognese and torteglioni quatro formaggi done in a sundried tomato and basil-pine nut cream sauce, all of which may be enjoyed with a good selection of local and Italian wines. A full bar is another recent addition.

The menu is a culmination of the kind of cooking the sisters grew up with, "along with things that we all just come up with, and keeping things light by using a lot of the wonderful produce available to us here," Geralynn adds. That''s how they like it: For Familia Spadaro, it''s tutto buono--all that''s good.

Catherine Coburn

Tutto Buono

469 Alvarado St., Monterey, 372-1880

Hours: Lunch 11:30-2:30 Monday-Friday; dinner 5-10pm every night

Price range: $3.25-16.95