Crossword Genius

Even Mafia characters go off pastry served up here? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trattoria

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'here?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'even mafia characters go off pastry served up' is the wordplay.
'even mafia characters' becomes 'ai' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'go off' becomes 'rot' (I've seen this before).
'pastry' becomes 'tart' (tart is a kind of pastry).
'served up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'ai'+'rot'+'tart'='airottart'
'airottart' written backwards gives 'TRATTORIA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trattoria that I've seen before include "Place to eat" , "Italian restaurant" , "Italian eating establishment" , "where Italians eat" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.
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