When chef Christophe Hille left last April, Nate Appleman, Hille’s right-hand man since the restaurant opened in 2004, was a natural replacement. Like Hille’s, Appleman’s pizzas (such as the restrained marinara with tomato sauce and oregano) are thin and graced with smoke from the wood-burning oven. Antipasti turn on simple combinations and big flavors: artichoke and tuna conserva with toasted bread; roasted sardines with butter lettuce in a mustard dressing. On occasion, the austere approach backfires. Cavatelli with clams, squid, and chickpeas tastes as if someone hit the flavors’ mute button”you’ll mind less if you’ve knocked back a few of the 42 wines offered by the glass. But roasted quail with arugula and lemon, and ingenious desserts like crepes filled with pecorino cream and paired with roasted raspberries, steer the meal back on course. (S.H.)