A Step Above

“You are dining with someone with an unshakable prejudice against restaurants located on the second floor,” said a curmudgeonly friend as we entered Gio’s Cucina Napoletana.

“What do you want to bet you’ll like this place anyway?” I countered.

Gio’s, a modest joint with butcher paper for tablecloths in the old Il Balcone space, is one of the Valley’s Italian bargains. Gio himself, Giovanni di Crisci, recently sold the restaurant to his longtime chef, but the food is as terrific as ever.

You start with a dish of chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic and a basket of hot, crusty ciabatta bread from the pizza oven. The thin-crust pizzas themselves are about the best on the boulevard; there are Napoletana, topped with tomato sauce, anchovies, capers and a sprinkle of oregano; Mimosa, with mozzarella, corn kernels, ham and basil.

Among the soups, pasta e fasule di mamma Caterina is white beans, fusilli pasta, lots of smoked pork and a delicious, garlicky broth. On weekends, there is zuppa di gamberi, an impossibly rich, coral-colored shrimp bisque positively loaded with plump little shrimp.

The homemade pasta dishes come from all over Italy. One clearly not from Naples is tortelloni di zucca al profumo di salvia, filled with a sweet, buttery pumpkin puree. The same delicious pasta dough, formed into a different shape, makes ravioletti di melanzane e formaggio di capra, small ravioli filled with eggplant and just enough goat cheese to give a tang. Then there is pappardelle al ragu di pollo: broad noodles topped with a sauce based on ground chicken. It’s the most comforting dish on the menu.

There are only a handful of secondi, but every one I’ve tried has been excellent. Salsicce e friarielli is a coil of grilled Italian sausage ringed by a saute of bittersweet rapini. Sand dabs are deftly sauteed in a lemon and white wine butter sauce. Best of all is bistecchine alla Napoletana, three medallions of filet mignon topped with prosciutto, mushrooms and parsley.

At dessert time, terrina di cioccolato is a fudgy slice with tiny pieces of amaretto cookies embedded in it. Sfogliatelle caldo is a multilayered pastry the size of your palm, served hot from the oven with a light, lemon-scented ricotta filling.

P.S.: My friend lost the bet.

BE THERE

Gio’s Cucina Napoletana, 15826 Ventura Blvd., Encino. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner, 5-9:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5:30-10 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday. Beer and wine only. Parking lot. Dinner for two, $28-$46. Suggested dishes: pizza Napoletana, $7.50; tortelloni di zucca, $9.50; bistecchine alla Napoletana, $12.95; terrina di cioccolato, $4. Call (818) 905-7446.