Risotto or gnocchi. If I'm lucky, they have artichokes or some kind of seasonal dish. Good Italian restaurants always have the best Fall dishes with butternut squash, pine nuts, etc. Also, heirloom tomato dishes are great in the summer. I also like bistecca, but I've only had a memorable U.S. experience in San Francisco.
My two fave dishes at my fave Italian restaurant are Pizza Atlantic (fresh tomatos, cheese, salmon, broccoli) and Rigatoni Broccoli (broccoli, garlic, tomato sauce). Always a struggle deciding which one I feel like getting.
If you go to an italian you start with Antipasti, followed by pasta, followed by fish or meat, followed by desert 