Le Calandre is the Alajmo family's laboratory of comfort, play and precision just outside Padua. Massimiliano Alajmo's food can be conceptual, but it is rarely chilly; beneath the theatrical service pieces and unexpected textures is a very Italian concern for flavor, warmth and pleasure. The room is modern, the pacing exact, and the cooking moves easily between childhood memory, luxury ingredients and almost abstract ideas. It is a restaurant where the experiment usually arrives with a smile rather than a lecture.