Roma

Pier Paolo Pasolini's second feature, 1962's "Mamma Roma," which begins its first local theatrical run Wednesday at the Nuart, is one of the director's finest.

Girls and gore are proving to be a winning strategy for Fox as the network announced on Monday it was renewing "The Following," "New Girl," "The Mindy Project" and "Raising Hope. " "The Following," which stars Kevin Bacon as a former FBI agent tasked with stopping a serial killer's cult, is coming back for a second 15-episode season. The series, created by Kevin Williamson and Maros Siega, is a ratings hit for the network, and has gotten an even bigger boost from DVR viewers, making it the No. 3  drama overall for the season.

Caffe Roma Rating: half a star Location: 350 N. Cañon Drive, Beverly Hills; (310) 274-7834; http://www.cafferomabeverlyhills.com Prices: Small plates and antipasti, $10 to $12; larger salads, $16; pizzas, $14; pasta, $16 to $20; main courses, $20 to $32; desserts, $10. Corkage fee, $20. Details: Open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays to Fridays and from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Full bar. Valet parking, $6, dinner only.

DEAR SOS: Would you please try for the molasses-nut muffin recipe served at K-Paul's Kitchen in New Orleans? --JAZBL DEAR JAZBL: Chef Paul Prudhomme sent us this recipe from his book, "Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen" (William Morrow: 1984).

I discovered La Bella Roma, a family-operated restaurant tucked in a corner of a strip mall off Ramon Road in Cathedral City (near Palm Springs). The correct use of herbs makes it a pleasure to try the spaghetti, mostaccioli, rigatoni or linguine. La Bella Roma, 68-100 Ramon Road, Suite C-2, Cathedral City; (760) 202-8181; entrees from about $10. Sheppa Vanderkleij Indio

Fortified by muffins and coffee, the detectives gathered under the chandeliers in the hotel's Grand Ballroom. San Francisco Police Inspector Greg Ovanessian prepared to start his presentation. "Before I begin," he said. "Not all Gypsies or Rom are criminals." "Bull...!" yelled someone in the back. After the laughs died down, Ovanessian, a bespectacled, soft-spoken investigator, continued.

A father and his 5-year-old son were shot dead in an attack on a Roma family home in Hungary, and two children were injured when the house caught fire, local news agency MTI reported. The attack in Tatarszentgyorgy, a village 40 miles southeast of Budapest, is the latest in a series on Roma houses in which seven people have died over the last year. Viktoria Mohacsi, a Roma Hungarian member of the European Parliament, said after visiting the scene that the two Roma were shot as they were trying to escape the house.

Tony Roma, whose casual North Miami, Fla., rib joint became an international restaurant empire after it caught the attention of a Texas financier in the 1970s, has died at the age of 78. Roma died Friday of lung cancer at the Chateau Battiste assisted-living center in Hemet, Riverside County Deputy Coroner Robert Powell confirmed.

It takes an active imagination to conjure up images of Rome while staring at the Riverside Freeway, but that is exactly what A'Roma Ristorante asks you to do. It's a tall order. Who can say an industrial park in La Palma reminds them of the Piazza di Spagna? And then there are all those trucks whizzing by overhead. They aren't heading to the Trastevere--we know that much. But once you start eating, it's easy to forget all that.

When a chamber group travels over the well-beaten path of Brahms and Schumann, hope that it has a few new things to say, some fresh ideas. With the Quartetto Beethoven di Roma--which performed Wednesday night for the Music Guild at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre--this hope was fully realized in vital, insightful and even original readings of two piano quartets by this German pair.