Saverio's Stone Fire Bistro, Glendale

At Saverio's Stone Fire Bistro, Chef Nicola Bertolotti decks out Northern Italian cuisine and pizzas with ingredients such as filet mignon, prosciutto, goat cheese, and truffles. He and his staff hand stretch rounds of dough atop a marble counter before covering them with sauce and toppings and thrusting them into the depths of a mammoth, tiled hearth oven, where high, even heat bakes them to a delectable crunch. Pizza combinations include options such as a quartet of cheeses—mozzarella, gorgonzola, fontina, and ricotta—or mozzarella, truffle cream, ham, and truffle oil. The oven also produces pastas coated in black-truffle or vodka sauces, arriving alongside paninis and salads that cut all the richness with lemony dressings.

A burbling waterfall covered in plants and pebbles stands sentry in front of Saverio’s fieldstone façade. Inside, slatted wooden furniture, checkerboard linens, big umbrellas, and candles clustered with small wicker baskets evoke a picnic atmosphere even when the waterfall’s iced over. If diners look up, they’ll see something even more surprising: high above their heads stretches a cross section of an Italian alleyway, complete with a trompe l’oeil streetscape mural, flower boxes, roof tiles, and clotheslines strung between two “buildings” like pasta noodles in the mouths of two young Venetians in love.