Slow food, nice view.

** Angelico's Lake House
1 North Main St., East Hampton, (860) 267-1276, angelicoslakehouse.com

You know how in those WWII movies when the Americans were suspicious that a soldier might be a spy they'd ask him some bit of recent baseball trivia? If the guy couldn't come up with the World Series winner, it was curtains. Out around East Hampton, east of the Connecticut River, they have a similar litmus test to quickly separate the locals from outsiders. It involves the pronunciation of the town's most significant landmark, its jewel, its centerpiece, Lake Pocotopaug. (It's hard enough to spell, now try saying it. Hint: the locals seem to say something like "POKE-a-dee-pog.")

Lisa and I must have seemed like outsiders when we had lunch at Angelico's Lake House in East Hampton last week. It was one of those beautiful breezy crisp fall days. The sun was still warm. Maybe we were more enamored of the view of the lake than any local ever would be. We guessed it might be one of the few remaining days of the year when one would reasonably want to sit at an outside table for a meal. (Angelico's is right next to the lake, hence the whole lake-house thing). As we waited to be greeted inside we scoped out the dozens of tables and chairs still set up outside in what looks to be a fairly extensive tiki-type party zone next to the restaurant. When we asked the waitress/hostess if we could sit outside, we got a kind of pained and squinty head-shake, no explanation, no small-talky apology, just a plain rejection. So much for the customer being right. But it wasn't a huge deal. Our table was in a glassed-in area jutting out toward the lake, and so we could gaze at the calm water and watch the slightly crazed person who appeared to be water-skiing off in the distance.

Good thing for that view, because the service at Angelico's was slow on this day. We sat without bread, waiting for our appetizers up until that point when you look at your companion and say something like "Shouldn't we have gotten some food by now?" To be fair, it appeared that our waitress was the sole server and she was seating guests, too. And there may be some other sort of end-of-the-season transition going on as well, because we were told that a few items from the appetizers list — lobster and goat cheese empanadas and shrimp rolls — were no longer being served because the chef was getting ready to switch menus. OK.

Unfortunately, the need for slight caveats kept coming. A starter of bacon-wrapped scallops were overcooked, and the pesto sauce that went with them didn't make much sense as an accompaniment. An order of crab cakes had an imposingly thick and crusty exterior, which seemed to require more than the lemon aoili that it was served with. But the menu is impressively broad, with BBQ, burgers, seafood, Italian bruschetta and Cajun and Mexican-style items in the appetizers list. The kitchen could probably scale back the offerings without alienating anyone.

The entrees are equally wide-ranging, with panini, pizza, burgers, seafood, pasta, wraps and a selection of Italian specials. An order of seared chicken served in a mascarpone cream sauce was plentiful and pretty; the flavors brightened up once it was salted. The caprese Siciliano was weighted down by a basil pesto that had a little too much oil.

We finished the meal off with coffee that needed oomph and a volcano chocolate cake that was made gummy by time in the microwave. It's possible the kitchen is simply between seasonal menus, gearing up for an autumnal focus. Despite imperfections, Angelico's Lake House has that big beautiful lake to look at, and the view tends to dwarfs glitches.