The Upper Crust

Johnnie’s Cafe and Pizzeria started as a small but wildly popular Malibu pizza parlor. In time, the company blossomed and today has six handsome, upscale locations. Pizza-mad Ventura Boulevard hosts the Valley’s only Johnnie’s, right where Jerry’s Famous Deli used to run a pizza operation.

The original Johnnie’s claimed the secret ingredient in its dough was water specially trucked in from New York. The Sherman Oaks Johnnie’s, a waitress informs me, has a device that treats and filters local water in order to give it that inimitable New York flavor. This all may sound silly, but the funny part is that Johnnie’s does have the best-tasting crust in town, springy and yeasty with a hint of sour tang in the finish.

This is a slick operation, from display kitchen to extensive Big Apple nostalgia. The walls are decorated with big photos of prewar New York. The tables are ingeniously constructed of wooden wine crates, with the original winery names preserved under several coats of varnish.

The pizzas, 12- and 16-inch models, are presented on large wooden planks. There are bottles of garlic-infused olive oil on all the tables. It’s great on the pizzas, and also on salads, sandwiches and pastas.

Johnnie’s classic New York City cheese pizza has a crisp, thin crust and a topping of whole-milk mozzarella combined with marinara sauce so judiciously that slices are gooey but never drippy. One pizza everyone seems to rave about here is the N.Y. white pie, made without marinara, and count me among its biggest fans. The crust is spread with a garlic cream sauce and baked with a thin topping of mozzarella, ricotta and sauteed spinach.

I’d also give high marks to Johnnie’s barbecue chicken pizza. Unlike most pizzas of this genre, it isn’t cloyingly sweet. The barbecue sauce is applied sparingly, and the other elements of the topping--sliced red onions, smoked mozzarella, a few sprigs of cilantro--give life to the relatively bland chunks of white meat chicken.

Most Johnnie’s fans can’t do without an appetizer called garlic knots. The baked twists of pizza dough brushed with olive oil and minced garlic really are hard to resist.

You’ll have an easier time fending off “Johnnie’s chopped,” a plate of coarsely chopped iceberg lettuce and other greens mixed with canned black olives, diced tomatoes, red bell peppers and a few absolutely ice-cold deli meats.

Sandwiches come on crusty fresh-baked Italian loaves, and the ones I’ve tried have been first rate. The hearty chicken Caesar sub is made with chopped romaine lettuce, smoked mozzarella, lots of grilled chicken breast and a pungent Caesar dressing. The meatball hoagie is packed with dense meatballs, marinara sauce and melted cheese.

The pastas are all nicely al dente. Among the standouts is spaghetti Bolognese, and chicken ravioli, half-moons filled with a light mixture of minced chicken and ricotta, smothered in a rose-colored tomato cream sauce. The flavors work like a charm.

The only real letdown is dessert. Perhaps at the proper temperature the real New York cheesecake would have nice flavor and texture. Mine was frozen. Johnnie’s baked apple crisp is unbalanced--the toppings are too sweet, the dough not sweet enough. There is also a homemade blackout cake. Mine had freezer burn.

Johnnie’s Cafe and Pizzeria may have flaws, but dollar for dollar there is no better pizza joint on the Boulevard. It must be the water, as the saying goes.

BE THERE

Johnnie’s Cafe and Pizzeria, 14350 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Dinner for two, $17-$31. Suggested: garlic knots, $1.95; chicken Caesar sub, $6.75; classic NYC cheese pizza, $9.75/$12.75; N.Y. white pie, $13.75/$17.95. Beer and wine. (818) 905-3360.