In the highly competitive restaurant business, few establishments last long enough to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Fewer still prove to be so enduringly popular that they become known as local landmarks. When the owners of one of these familiar institutions open a second location, comparisons to the original are inevitable.

Daniel's (www.danielson55.net) opened in 1993 in Cary, originally as Pizza Pasta Café. Owners Daniel and Janet Perry changed the name in 1996, when they relocated to larger, snazzier digs in Apex. They also expanded the menu and began assembling what was to become a first-rate wine cellar with one of the area's best selections of Italian wines. For all its changes, though, Daniel's has remained a favorite local destination for Italian fare in a setting that is at once family-friendly and casually romantic.

Daniel's on Main, which the couple opened this May in Fuquay-Varina, isn't exactly a clone of the original Daniel's. The new dining room's décor is a bit more refined, for one thing, and the wine list slightly streamlined. But the menus of the two restaurants are, for all practical purposes, the same.

So is the execution, as I discovered when my wife and I stopped in for dinner recently at Daniel's on Main. Fried calamari were tender in a breading that was crisp and substantial but not at all heavy, served with Daniel's trademark spicy marinara. The Caesar salad was just that: a traditional Caesar, with a well-balanced dressing. An entree of mussels marinara was likewise respectful of tradition and delivered a welcome second helping of the sauce we had enjoyed with the calamari. And, while Daniel's twist on a puttanesca sauce substitutes olive paste for whole black olives, the pairing of that bold sauce with the rich flavor of salmon scored a hit.

In short, you can expect the same sort of solid execution in Fuquay-Varina as you would in Apex. Longtime fans of the original restaurant should feel at home in the dining room of the new Daniel's, too. Granted, the walls of Tuscan yellow and mahogany wainscoting, softly lit by alabaster sconces, are a bit more upscale. But somehow the place still has a familiar, cozy feel about it. Maybe it's those tabletops covered in used wine corks.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.