Not to be all non-provincial or anything, but didn't something happen yesterday with like the Supreme Court or something?

The Daily News at least admits the Harriet Miers story exists, but gives the page over to another creepy, non-news helping of Gotti family pastafazool. Aw, Junior visited the Dapper Don's tomb! Such a good son! And did he stop by the tombs (junkyards, gravel pits, whatever) of all the guys Papa whacked?

The Post leaves Miers off the cover entirely and fronts another homewrecking-clergyman sex scandal. It's almost enough for a win--better a stooge for the Bush family than a shill for the Gottis--but America's Oldest Continuously Published Daily Newspaper blows it by once again crowding up the page with extraneous crap. A full-length celeb photo? Did Col Allan poach a layout designer from Us Weekly?

Winner: Daily News

Overall standings: Daily News 4, New York Post 2

As I was sitting there on a recent night, tucking into a thin-crusted pizza and a glass of chilled pinot grigio, I realized I had been there before. Va Tutto used to be a nondescript, old-fashioned Italian restaurant where I would come with my son when he was still in his stroller. Around that time a friend of mine, who is very beautiful, brought in her baby, who started to cry. After a few minutes, the waiter appeared with a tray containing a cork and a glass of brandy.

"The gentleman over there sends it with his compliments." he said. "He says dip the cork in the brandy and put it in the baby's mouth. It will make her sleep."

Outraged, she looked over at the gentleman. Beaming across the room, at a table surrounded by his henchmen, was John Gotti.

Now Mr. Gotti is in Marion, Ill., getting his meals delivered through a slot in his door. The food at 23 Cleveland Place has certainly changed since his time. There are still veal meatballs on the menu, but they're grilled, and they're served with fried sage instead of piled on spaghetti, and they're topped with Parmesan that's not grated but shaved. The waiters aren't in tuxedos, but–like one who sported cropped bleached hair and a matching goatee–tend to look like actors in a Jim Jarmusch movie. The restaurant draws a very different crowd, too–young and hip, in strap dresses and sandals, henna tattoos

and T-shirts.

A blue flag emblazoned with the restaurant's name hangs out front, next to a French bistro that was completely empty when we walked by one rainy night. (Perhaps they have a covered garden in the back.) Va Tutto, by contrast, was full. The long, narrow room has a small bar and a few tables in front; a banquette stretches along an open brick wall that leads to a dining room in the back, where there's a brick fireplace. Beyond is the garden. Its only drawback is the green garden chairs, which are supremely uncomfortable. Votive candles are placed on the tables in delicate wrought-iron filigree cages, but since the latter aren't lined with glass, the wind usually blows the candles out.

Chef Maria Giordano Lupo, who used to be an assistant chef at Gotham Bar and Grill, spent several weeks in Italy working in restaurants and on farms and vineyards before she reopened the restaurant. Her food is not piled up in architectural heaps, Gotham-style, but is straightforward and uncomplicated, with zesty, strong flavors. Some of it is very good indeed, beginning with the fruity olive oil and crusty bread that is placed on the table when you sit down. The wine list is well priced and has interesting selections from small Italian vineyards.

The fritti misti of vegetables–green tomatoes, beets, eggplant and beet greens–arrives sizzling in an airy batter, with a perfectly balanced lemon vinaigrette. Baby calamari, tender and lightly charred from the grill, are matched with a coarse-grained polenta and greens. The grilled veal polpetti (meatballs) are wonderful, and I'd go back just for those. Green salad is fresh but has too much vinegar in the dressing. I was surprised by the plate of cold meats, which consists of dried sausage, prosciutto and slivers of fresh figs, the meats all chopped in small squares. Why? A trio of crostini (tomato and basil, dolce gorgonzola and salami, chicken liver and sage) is pleasant but nothing special.

The restaurant's wood-burning oven turns out pizzas and roasts; steaks and chops are delivered from its wood-burning grill. The pizzas have thin crusts and can be topped with interesting Italian cheeses–caciotta, fossa and scodellato–porcini and truffle oil, or simply with tomato-and-basil "margherita." The calzone, puffed up like a giant slipper, is delicious, stuffed with a sharp, creamy cheese and prosciutto.

The ravioli of the day were plump, gossamer pillows filled with golden beets. Campanelle is tossed with an intense sauce made with roast tomatoes and garlic, with diced smoked prosciutto and peas. The rice for the seafood risotto was undercooked to the point of being inedible, but the seafood–lobster, clams, mussels and baby calamari–was perfectly cooked in a delicate broth.

Roast chicken is the litmus test for a kitchen and Va Tutto comes through. It is juicy under its crisp skin, with lemon and rosemary, and accompanied by slices of grilled polenta. The moist grilled salmon with kale is perked up with pesto and roasted tomatoes. A thick, juicy veal chop is grilled with portobello mushrooms and comes with baby greens, simple and uncomplicated. Steak alla fiorentina is perfectly decent, with mashed potatoes and kale, tossed with raisins and pine nuts, but it is a bit greasy.

Desserts are on the homey side. The panna cotta is light and creamy, with raspberries and a ruby red sauce. The chocolate bread pudding is rich, laced with chianti-soaked dried cherries and pistachio and accompanied by a hazelnut gelato. Roast peaches with crostini and moscato zabaione were the sorts of desserts that go nicely with a glass of moscato on a summer night.

There are still kinks to be worked out, especially with the slow, unfocused service in the garden. A waiter appears at your table with a tray of dishes and looks nonplussed when it turns out no one has ordered any of them, or gives out the wrong dishes to the customers. On a night when rain kept everyone inside, the service, surprisingly, was much better.

Va Tutto is a friendly place and it delivers. I like the garden, but I am perfectly happy eating indoors, too.

Va Tutto

* 1/2

23 Cleveland Place, between Spring and Kenmare streets

941-0286

Dress: Casual

Noise level: Fine

Wine list: Well priced, interesting Italian wines

Credit cards: All major

Price range: Main courses $8 to $24

Lunch: Tuesday and Sunday noon to 3 P.M.

Dinner: Tuesday to Thursday 6 P.M. to 10:30 P.M., Friday and Saturday to 11 P.M.

Brunch: Saturday and Sunday noon to 3 P.M.

* Good

* * Very Good

* * * Excellent

* * * * Outstanding

No Star: Poor

Last September, however, reports began to circulate about a Justice Department investigation into leaks from the United States Attorney's office in Manhattan, and on Jan. 29 Mr. Heintz was gone.

Bounced back to his former position in the Bronx District Attorney's office, Mr. Heintz is reportedly the first Federal prosecutor ever, anywhere, fired for tipping off the press.

His dismissal already has had a chilling effect on law enforcement coverage, some reporters said-especially with reports circulating that the source of his ouster was a city reporter.

If true, reporters said, it is an unprecedented violation of the sacred trust between journalist and sources-a trust held especially dear in the fierce world of New York journalism, where competition for information is so intense.

Like the showdown in Washington over Kenneth Starr's purported leaks, the case is raising questions about journalist-source relationships and fueling fears that reporters will wind up rebuffing subpoenas.

Neither Mr. Heintz nor the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office-those in the best position to know the truth-would comment on the source of the allegations that led to Mr. Heintz's dismissal. The case is still under investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Veteran reporter Jerry Capeci, who covers organized crime for the Daily News , however, has accused a rival reporter, Al Guart of the New York Post , of tipping off the U.S. Attorney's office about Mr. Heintz. Mr. Capeci has also accused Mr. Guart of sharing information about Mr. Heintz with Mr. Gotti's defense attorney, Gerald Shargel.

Mr. Guart, who's been assigned to the law enforcement beat for five years, denies he deliberately informed on Mr. Heintz, although he does admit that a question he asked might have led investigators to focus on Mr. Heintz as their leaker.

"If he [another reporter] is saying I gave up a name, that's absolutely false," said Mr. Guart. "If that led them to conclude that it was Heintz, and confronted him, that was out of my control."

Asked if he shared information with Mr. Shargel, Mr. Guart said, "No. Period."

Mr. Guart said the allegations against him are fueled by jealousy and competition between the two tabloids and over dueling Web sites for mob junkies-namely one he contributes to and one run by Mr. Capeci.

Mr. Capeci, however, said Web sites and jealousy have nothing to do with this and that the basis for his allegations against Mr. Guart goes deeper than the rivalry between the two newspapers. "What he did …was despicable," Mr. Capeci told The Observer . "It's just not what veteran reporters are supposed to do."

Though Mr. Shargel said he doesn't plan to pursue charges of prosecutorial misconduct as part of his defense strategy for Mr. Gotti, some journalists are concerned about the long-term consequences. In the short term, some said, it's not making it any easier for them to do their job.

"You don't even get the call back, where as before you'd get the courtesy of a call back saying, 'Call Marvin [Smilon] and the press office,' " said Patricia Hurtado, the courthouse reporter for Newsday . "The problem is, we have so much to cover in the courthouse, we sort of rely on them to tell us what's scheduled when."

Ms. Hurtado added that prosecutors have lost their sense of humor. "I'll be on the phone and joke with them, 'This is on the record then, right?' They'll just say, 'We're not joking, stop it.'"

Mr. Heintz's downfall is the result of a rare crackdown on prosecutorial leaks. They've been a fact of life in the decades-old competition between the Post and the News , which is never more bloody than when it involves crime-fighter sources and exclusives. Pushed by their editors, Post and News reporters know virtually any tidbit that includes the Gotti name will earn them a place on the front page-or at least somewhere "up front."

The rivalry between the two newspapers grew especially hot last summer, as the News and Post played tag with exclusives about the case against Mr. Gotti. Mr. Capeci, 54, a former Post reporter himself who parlayed his now-defunct Daily News Gangland column into a book about the senior Mr. Gotti, said reporters fell pressure to beat the competition.

Mr. Guart, 41, said Mr. Capeci accused him of reacting to the rivalry by "outing" Mr. Heintz, whom he believed to be Mr. Capeci's source. Mr. Guart said Mr. Capeci confronted him with the allegation on Jan. 29, the day after Mr. Heintz was dismissed for having "inappropriate contacts with the press."

"I thought he was calling me about the [Web site] column, because he hasn't called me yet to say, 'Al, I liked your column,'" recalled Mr. Guart. "I thought it was a camaraderie thing. I like Capeci-you know, I'm starting not to like him. But I liked him, we got along fine."

"Capeci went into the Brooklyn Federal courthouse and was telling people I did this, I did that. And you know what else he said? That my editors knew about it and we were all in on it. It's a big conspiracy to harm our sources," Mr. Guart continued.

"My sources still trust me," said Mr. Guart. "When is this guy going to stop this crusade?" Mr. Guart said he believes the real impetus for Mr. Capeci's anger is that he lost a source. He advised Mr. Capeci to get over it.

Mr. Guart admitted he may have, inadvertently, aided the investigation into leaks. He said he attended a Secret Service holiday party in mid-December, which Mr. Heintz also attended, where he heard some new details of the Gotti case.

The next morning, he contends, the Daily News had a story ("filled with some gibberish"), with different details of the story he had overheard. Mr. Guart said he called Mr. Smilon, at the U.S. Attorney's press office, the next morning, and ran by Mr. Smilon the version of events he had heard "from somebody at the party."

Mr. Guart contends Mr. Heintz had recounted his night at the Secret Service party during a meeting with other prosecutors on the same day that Mr. Smilon inquired about Mr. Guart's press query. Mr. Guart speculates that that cast suspicion on Mr. Heintz.

A few days later, Mr. Shargel, Mr. Gotti's defense attorney, accused Mr. Heintz of leaks, pointing a finger at him during a meeting at the U.S. Attorney's office. "I told the Government that I had proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the source [of leaks] was Heintz," said Mr. Shargel.

What was Mr. Shargel's proof and how did he get it? "I can't reveal my sources," the lawyer said. Asked whether Mr. Guart had spoken to him about Mr. Heintz, he repeated that he would not reveal his source. But one source, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Shargel told him he and Mr. Guart had discussed Mr. Heintz.

Ms. Hurtado said reporters and their sources have been sitting around, playing "Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp"-speculating about Mr. Shargel's "proof" against Mr. Heintz and his source.

"I know these guys [Mr. Guart and Mr. Capeci], I work with them," Ms. Hurtado added. "It's too bad. It's a side effect of this huge competitive story, this real tabloid story. It's shocking to think some of these accusations are true-whatever it is that happened."

Stuart Marques, managing editor of the Post , did not return calls for comment. Mr. Guart said he told them about the allegations against him, after he realized the reports about him were widespread.

He speculated that Mr. Capeci's interest in the matter is to protect Mr. Heintz. In another phone call, Mr. Guart speculated that Mr. Capeci was spreading rumors about him because he had broken a couple of stories in his AmericanMafia.com Web column that scooped the Web site Mr. Capeci runs, Ganglandnews .

Mr. Capeci replied: "I don't care one bit about Al Guart writing for anybody. I haven't mentioned his Web site to anybody. All this does is just cloud the issue."

Meanwhile, some reporters said Mr. Heintz's defrocking was all the more shocking as it was based on such minor leaks. "There wasn't anything in the papers that was that horrific," said Mr. Guart's Post colleague Murray Weiss, criminal justice editor. "Maybe one paper got a one day's heads-up of something that was going to be in the public record anyway. I don't think his transgressions are so gigantic, but in the climate he got knocked off the case.