RESTAURANT REVIEW / GIOVANNI’S PASTABILITIES : Tasty Elegance : Formerly Giovanni’s Cafe, a revised menu wins rave review from summer camp returnee as the ‘world’s best Italian restaurant.’

When my 13-year old son ate at Giovanni’s Pastabilities in Ventura for the first time, it was after three weeks away at summer camp. For the last two weeks, the campers had been served a daily ration of perfectly dreadful spaghetti marinara. At Pastabilities, my son ate with tremendous relish and pronounced it the “world’s best Italian restaurant.”

But it’s not necessary to have been fed bad spaghetti for two weeks to appreciate the good food here. It’s delicious.

Formerly Giovanni’s Cafe, the restaurant has revised its menu along with its name, and the prices are now more moderate. With its beige stucco walls and exposed beams, there’s a slightly Southwestern ambience. It also has the quiet elegance of linen tablecloths, classical music, fresh flowers, candles and walls of gleaming wooden wine racks.

I sensed that they might prefer a dressy clientele here, but in fact they accommodate a wide variety of styles, from neckties to beach casual. That makes sense, especially because it’s next to a hotel, where vacationers in shorts are as inevitable as fireworks at the county fair.

Pastabilities’ hot little heart-shaped focaccia rolls are among the best restaurant breads around--light and chewy and kissed with the flavor of salted olive oil. They added to the satisfaction of two marvelous soups. White bean fagioli had floating leaves of basil in a heart-warming tomato broth, with lovely beans and a slightly smoky aroma. Minestrone was a clear, light soup featuring fresh vegetables rather than pasta and beans.

Small salads and a fried vegetable appetizer, which all had a similar mustard dressing, were eclipsed by the dishes that followed. These included choices of 12 different kinds of pasta, to be paired with 18 kinds of sauces.

Pasta arrabiata ($8.95) had a potently spicy tomato sauce with lots of cheese and more than a strong hint of cilantro. Compared to it, the primavera ($10.50), with its perfectly prepared vegetables in a cream sauce, seemed almost bland. I also tasted a fabulous garlic pasta in which the garlic had been fried to a startling lustiness.

A good reason to order at least one entree is the chance to try the vegetables. Clearly they adore them here and prepare them superbly. Entrees I liked include fat, regal scampi limone ($12.95), which were as close to lobster as any shrimp I’ve tasted. They came with a great lemon garlic sauce. Veal Francese was not exactly breaded--the crust was more like a coating of thin omelet. It had a delightfully intense white wine lemon sauce full of eat-your-heart-out capers.

Another fine dish was eggplant supreme, a kind of eggplant lasagna, sweet and cheesy with sensational, thick slices of eggplant that had the soft texture of sweetbreads. This was much more successful than the vegetarian lasagna, where the broccoli had bolted the boundaries of subtle taste and had defiantly gone completely out of control. However, the salmon special more than made up for it. It came with a sweet (and pink) pureed pepper cream sauce and the fish was perfectly cooked.

Desserts simply added to the pleasure of a fine meal. Homemade Italian-style ice cream defined the word treat . I especially liked the espresso ice cream, which was light and icy and not too sweet, and the divinely subtle white chocolate. Banana proved to be sweetly palatable, while kiwi was an interesting experiment. Tangy, cheesy cheesecake was scrumptious.

For my son, the culinary comparison between his camp and this restaurant was too much. I don’t think he will be going back to “Camp Marinara” next year.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Giovanni’s Pastabilities, The Clocktower Inn, 185 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura (805) 648-1462. Lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Monday-Friday; Dinner 5-9:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday and 4-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Full bar, American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $27--$38.