RESTAURANT REVIEW : Fare is refreshingly familiar

In an earlier time, Luigi’s Ristorante in Tarzana would have been just another pizzeria. But now even the least prepossessing Italian establishments are starting to rise to the culinary standards set by the recent wave of excellent Italian restaurants.

Luigi’s is a deep and narrow space with the kitchen in front and no red-and-white-checked tablecloths. Instead, it’s done in sparse contemporary California white, with tall, handsome artificial palm trees for drama.

Don’t think, however, that its decor makes this a cold place. On the contrary, it has a small-town feel.

Luigi’s menu doesn’t offer any surprises, but rather refreshing treatments of familiar themes. That chicken Marsala, for instance, had at its core a remarkably thick hunk of white meat so admirably cooked that it retained its natural tenderness and juiciness. Its sauce wasn’t unpleasantly thickened as it often can be, but it was too sweet, a common problem with Marsala-based sauces.

The cooking has one particularly strong element: an excellent crushed-tomato sauce, which brings real life to a number of dishes. It was in a richly flavored hot turkey sandwich that I first saw the crushed tomatoes, seeds and all, and realized that Luigi’s was special. Of course, the sauce shows up on Luigi’s pizzas as well.

And these people really know how to bake pizzas. They turn the thin, tasty dough into a crust with enough body to stand up to the tomato sauce and other toppings. The result is an ideal pizza experience: crispness and moist softness at the same time.

The salad section of the menu contains, among other things, caponata . This al dente vegetable compote, which includes eggplant, celery, olives, onion, capers and olive oil, must qualify as a salad simply because it’s cold. Whatever it is, Luigi’s appealing version of the well-known Sicilian dish includes pine nuts, indicating that the recipe is from Palermo, in the western part of the island. It was characterized by a lively interplay of textures and tang that overcame the annoying inclusion of canned olives.

The Caesar salad, on the other hand, pretends to be something it isn’t. Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and croutons, even with a quite good lemon-spiked dressing sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, do not a Caesar salad make.

The menu asserts that the pastas are made in-house. They certainly seemed to be. The spaghetti puttanesca was especially successful. The sauce was composed of tomato, yellow pepper, capers, onions, fresh mushrooms, fresh basil and once again--even more obviously discordant here than in the caponata-- canned olives.

A complimentary chocolate-covered strawberry, infused with chocolate liqueur, was a welcome close to one pleasant meal at Luigi’s. Other desserts include cheesecake and the now ubiquitous tirami su . Luigi’s isn’t a place you’d go out of your way to find, but it certainly is one you’d be happy to have next to your neighborhood movie complex.

Recommended dishes: caponata, $3.50; turkey sausage sandwich, $4.50; pasta puttanesca, $8.50.

Luigi’s Ristorante, 18608 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. (818) 342-4490. Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, dinner from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Monday. No alcohol. Entrance and parking in rear. Cash only. Dinner for two, food only, $28 to $34.