I'm back from vacation and racing against the deadline for next week's Maine Switch Magazine, but I couldn't pass up the chance to share these snapshots I took during a visit to the soon-to-open Luna Rossa Italian restaurant yesterday afternoon. An exciting and elegant space, it's located in the former home of the Pavilion nightclub at 188 Middle St. The building was constructed after fire leveled much of the city in 1866, and it first served as the headquarters for Canal National Bank. Many of the original features remain.

Initially, the building's owners intended to create a retail mall, of which the restaurant Luna Rossa would be one tenant. However, those plans changed and now the restaurant is the sole business filling the space.

Executive Chef Antonio Bruno, an Italian native, says the plan is to offer seating for a whopping 220+, including a full bar and lounge space. The bar, located on the mezzanine, has Las Vegas-style dueling pianos, which should offer a high-energy Thur-Sat entertainment option.

The restaurant is ready to open, but it's stuck in a holding pattern as they wait for the state's liquor inspector to return from vacation and grant a liquor license. Chef Bruno says there's a possibility they could open next week, but it may not happen until the beginning of August.

In the meantime, the kitchen staff has been hired and the menus are ready to go. The menus include lunch, dinner, dessert, late night and kid's. Eventually Sunday brunch will be added. The bar menu, which includes things such as fried calamari ($10), sliders ($9), bruschetta caprese ($6) and fried ravioli ($9), will be on tap from 10 pm-midnight Thur-Sat.

Many of the items on the lunch and dinner menus are similar to popular dishes Chef Bruno cooked up at restaurants in London, New York and Bermuda. These include shrimp rossa ($12), involtino di pollo ($20), capepesanti all fuoco ($12) and puttanesca classico ($17).

Chef Bruno says the kitchen "will be as flexible as we can," and says with two days advance notice he can accommodate pretty much any special order. Wanting to test him, I asked about gluten-free requests. No problem, he said, and indicated that he can special order gluten-free pasta. Pretty impressive.

The food will be complemented by a wine list dominated by Italian wines, but which will include bottles from around the globe. This original bank vault at the back of the space may one day become a super-secure wine cellar.

I was really surprised to see this room that time forgot, located behind the space where the Pavilion's bar used to be. In the future it may become a special chef's table room.

Luna Rossa is located at 188 Middle St., Portland. Once it opens, reservations can be made by calling 899-1113.