MILFORD The first bakery to open downtown in nearly 20 years offers cakes and desserts like grandma used to make, literally.

Michaela Tapia, who with her father, Luciano Magliulo, owns Al Fresco Cafe, uses many of her grandmother's recipes, including one for ricotta cheesecake that has already become a customer favorite.

Al Fresco, opened a month ago at 2 Schooner Lane, also offers breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees, a full catering menu and complete meals that can be served hot at home.

"I've been in the restaurant business for years and I've had places in New York City and in Stamford, but my daughter lives in Milford and she told me there was no bakery here," Magliulo said. "We like this spot because it is so open and down by the water, and even though it is a bit out of the way it is a good location for us," he said.

Magliulo and his daughter have the background to make a success of their new venture. The 60-year-old man owned La Camelia on 58th Street in New York for many years. Among his celebrity patrons was television host and Greenwich resident Regis Philbin, who had Magliulo on his show and included some of the restaurateur's recipes in his book, "Cooking with Regis."'

More recently, the Al Fresco owner saw his Stamford restaurant, Mona Lisa, ranked among the top 1,000 Italian eateries in the U.S. in 2008, by the Zagat Guide.

Tapia studied food service and culinary arts in the U.S. and in Italy, and worked in a Greenwich bakery before going into business with her father.

The two prepare fresh pasta daily, including chitarra, made using a 2,000-year-old method of pressing the wheat paste through a wooden mold with thin strings that looks like a guitar.

"We have two soup specials every day, including pasta e faglioli and butternut squash soup," Tapia said.

Magliulo said that Al Fresco also has the "real'' Italian wedding soup. Although the meatball-rich delicacy shows up on restaurant menus and grocery aisles all over the country, "It isn't that easy to make, especially if you use the freshest ingredients, like we do.''

The prepared meals include elaborate chicken, fish and veal dishes, as well as pasta with homemade sauce. Al Fresco is not a deli and it doesn't sell pizza.

Magliulo, by the way, is skeptical of New Haven's claim that the popular tomato pie was invented there by Italian immigrants.

"If you go to the moon, there will be an Neapolitan guy there to sell you apizza," he said with a smile.