Those who tire of nouns as names for restaurants will delight in the recent crop of verbs – Share, Swish, Amuse – and adjectives – Artisanal, Smoked, and the Upper West Side’s new Regional. While names like Plate or Landmarc leave prospective diners blindly guessing about what the restaurant might offer, adjectival names, by their descriptive nature, can’t help but do a somewhat better job of conveying what the restaurant is about. Regional, true to its title, offers dishes from 20 or so regions of Italy, all done in a casual, populist style.

The restaurant’s look is spare and handsome: loosely arranged wooden tables, without tablecloths, flowers, or candles, in a long, unadorned white space. The bright, accommodating room stretches from a counter-style salumi bar in the front to a tall communal table in the back. Up here on 99th Street, above the West 80s’ glut of mid-range dining, a new restaurant gets attention: Regional’s charming but underpowered waitstaff is a bit outgunned, night after night, by hordes of local families and couples. Noise levels are elevated but not egregious, and the service, even when it bogs down, remains accurate and friendly.

Although it happily skips the “authentic Old World” conceit – this hodgepodge of diverse traditions is nobody’s mamma’s cooking – there’s a definite unified character to the kitchen’s output. Unfortunately, one of the key commonalities among the dishes is an unstinting richness: delicious, yes, but standing up at the end of the meal can be a pronounced effort. Sicilian-born chef Salvatore Zapparata cooked wide-ranging dishes at Piadina and La Madrastra; here he has selected the fried and buttery best of Italy. You can almost hear the neighborhood elevators groaning.

Nonetheless, the cooking is skillful. For a majority of the dishes, the richness complements rather than drowns the balance of flavors. Among the best of the starters are puffy batter fritters ($8) incorporating chunks of fresh, tasty codfish and capers, with a variety of flavors and textures in each bite; and delicate, micro-thin beef carpaccio ($9) with zesty bagna cauda, a hot anchovy oil. But others labor under their own weight, like fat golf balls of fried Fontina ($7.50) with more grease than flavor. A daily selection of cured meats and cheeses provides an alternative antipasto-style start to the meal.

A dozen pastas comprise the heart of the menu. Plump, round little cavatelli ($12) are tossed in an abundant buttery sauce (of course) with toothsome turnip greens; toasted garlic and crushed red pepper add piquancy. A rich, carroty ragu, thick with strands of duck meat, flatters bigoli ($12.50), short, rough-textured Venetian noodles that are full of chew and flavor from whole-wheat flour, and pair beautifully with the sauce. Long, hollow bucatini ($11.50) are drenched in a luscious, heart-stoppingly rich version of a classic sauce, with savory bits of pancetta and sweetly caramelized red onion. Strangolapreti ($12) – “priest-stranglers” – are fist-size soft dumplings from the north, made with spinach, breadcrumbs, and egg, flavored with nutmeg, and served awash in melted butter. A full order of four dumplings suffices to strangle several priests. And a pasta gratin ($12.50) pulls no punches, dousing hollow noodles, mushrooms, and leeks in a mammoth dose of cream and toasting the whole thing to a sublimely savory turn.

Heroic diners who have room for another course after even half a serving of pasta are rewarded with a couple of excellent choices. In a Sardinian preparation, pieces of lamb ($15) are pounded tender, tossed with artichoke hearts, and topped with shreds of tangy, salty cheese. The nuanced, flavorful combination brings out the best in all its ingredients. A moist, tasty tuna steak ($18) gets light flavor from a basic salmoriglio sauce of olive oil, garlic, lemon, and oregano.

Desserts (all $6) like lemon ricotta fritters and flourless chocolate cake offer no respite from the onslaught of weighty food, but a couple of lighter ones – zabaglione poured over fresh berries, or a delicate Italian ice-cream cake – go down more easily.

Sixty Italian wines with a broad provenance fall largely under $50. Everything is labeled with its region of origin, so it’s easy to pair dishes with local wines. A dozen by-the-glass choices include the popular, emphatic Nuhar Nero d’Avola blend from Sicily ($7), a supple, herby Ligurian Vermentino ($7), and Santi’s excellent Ripasso Valpolicella ($8), which is “re-passed” over the skins left over from earlier fermentations, providing a tannic structure that stands up to the heaviest dishes.

Given its heft, Regional’s food isn’t ideal for everyday enjoyment, but it’s tasty (and affordable) enough to merit an occasional indulgence, perhaps on days when you’re feeling a little too buoyant.

Regional, 2607 Broadway, 212-666-1915.