RESTAURANT REVIEW:

There have been a few times when I have been guilty of assuming what a restaurant is going to be like.

I get a preconceived notion because of the name, the location or the outside of the establishment, it has to be a certain way.

Unfortunately that has kept me from experiencing some real gems. It is a habit I’m trying to break, but I violated it with Nick’s Pizza.

I had driven by Nick’s several times, and each time thought I should stop in for pizza. I assumed wrongly that was all they did, since that was the name of the restaurant.

But I had my favorite pizza a little north of there where I used to live and didn’t want to be disloyal to my neighborhood joint.

It was a big mistake.

Nick’s is so much more than pizza, and I was lucky enough to be able to repent for my sin of ignoring them for the last several years.

If I had been smart enough to walk in the front door I would have know by the décor that this wasn’t just a pizza joint.

The rich cream-colored tones on the wall give the place a warm feel and the dining room has a basic look.

There are wood tables and chairs, a few booths and tall windows on one side. The patio is the place to be on an afternoon or a warm evening.

It is hard to believe this place is in the middle of a shopping center, but Nick Fodera and his wife, Lisa, were here long before the Home Depot.

In fact the mall was just about built around the restaurant. Fodera’s place was still serving locals when the buildings around them were being torn down in the late ’90s.

If they can withstand that challenge, overcoming my ignorance would be no problem and they started immediately with the first dish placed in front of me.

The mozzarella caprese is a great appetizer. It consists of 3/4 -inch slices of tomatoes, two red and one yellow, with buffalo mozzarella on top. The cheese is thick and garnished with basil and a little olive oil.

The appetizer is simple, but packed with so much flavor; it’s a better way, I think, to start off a meal than an antipasto, though you can’t go wrong with the one served here.

The other appetizers worth trying are the bruschetta, the portabello mushroom with demi-glace and Gorgonzola sauce, and the tapenade, which is olive pesto, artichoke hearts and buffalo mozzarella.

All three are served at lunch and dinner.

One item I enjoyed that is served only at lunch is the calzone. It is filled with ricotta, mozzarella, prosciutto, spinach and roasted garlic.

There are no substitutions, but you wouldn’t want to change anything in it. The garlic is perfect with the spinach and cheeses and the prosciutto gives it a little salty kick. It came with red sauce to dip, but it wasn’t needed as it stood strong on its own.

As I read the dinner menu, I found about five different dishes that immediately intrigued me.

The rigatoni Gorgonzola, with sun-dried tomatoes, the capellini and fresh vegetables, the gnocchi, the lasagna and the veal Marsala all jumped out at me.

Dinner there is my next planned outing.

As I was trying to figure out which four friends could join me so I could try all of those dishes, I noticed Matt Donovan sitting at the counter.

Donovan is the general manager at one of my favorite golf courses in Orange County, Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo. The pizza aficionado works and lives in South County, but Nick’s is high on his list.

That was the most ringing endorsement of a place I had ever seen: someone willing to battle weekday afternoon traffic to get a pizza.

JOHN REGER is the Pilot’s restaurant critic. His reviews run Thursdays.