Best reason to get off the highway on your way to Cape Cod

In the '60s in Middleborough, one of the best things going was Lorenzo's. Begun about a decade earlier, Lorenzo's in those days was strictly a summertime drive-in experience. Uniformed carhops -- no roller skates, sadly -- would take your order and come back with pizza or steaming mounds of spaghetti on disposable tin plates.

Lorenzo's has long since added such amenities as a bar and a couple of dining rooms, and today it's open year-round. But it still has a rough-hewn charm -- especially in the back dining room, a windowless expanse where patrons sit family-style at long tables. The pizza is quite good, but the highlight is the homemade pasta. Our favorites: spaghetti with linguiça sauce, a nice merging of two local ethnic traditions, and chicken parmesan, starring real chicken rather than some chopped-up cutlet. And don't forget the minestrone soup.

Lorenzo's Italian Restaurant, 500 West Grove Street (Route 28), Middleborough, (508) 947-3000.