CAIOTI SPOTTED IN VALLEY.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

Ed LaDou, who claims to have been the first to popularize the barbecued chicken pizza when he made them at Spago and later developed the first menu for the original California Pizza Kitchen in Beverly Hills, has opened what he hopes to be the first of a chain of pizza and pasta cafes.

LaDou moved his Caioti from its longtime perch on Laurel Canyon Boulevard midway between the Valley and Hollywood to Tujunga Village, that pleasant little shopping, eating and beauty salon area surrounding the Moorpark Street and Tujunga Avenue intersection.

He calls it Caioti Pizza Cafe, and though the menu lists such diversities as pheasant ravioli, oyster and shrimp pizza, Alabama fried chicken, ponzu-sauced pressed crispy chicken and filet of lemon and herb-flavored salmon with a balsamic tomato vinaigrette, its a teeny place with just a handful of tables.

But LaDou has never been a bandwagon chef. So he makes sure neither you nor he will be bored here.

For example, his kitchen turns out soup rarities like a thin but intensely flavored sunchoke soup with floating mini-dollops of sweet bell-pepper paste as a soup of the day ($3.95).

However, his cafe does concentrate on pizzas, obviously hoping to do strong takeout and eventually delivery business.

He divides them into three categories, his ``classico'' pizzas: thin-crusted Italian-style pies, a couple of them cheeseless, most with herbs and assertive seasoning, some topped with with different vegetables or sausages. One of these is a white pizza with chopped clams; another favorite of mine is a delicious roasted potato and caramelized shallot rendition.

His ``Caioti'' offerings include his original barbecued chicken pizza, a Cajun pie, a smoked chicken and roast pepper pizza with mushrooms and goat cheese, a smoked salmon pie with golden caviar and nasturtium blossoms and an eggplant and lamb sausage pizza. My preferred one from this group however, is a pizza topped with oysters and shrimp, some spinach and sweet roasted pepper strips, restrained portions of gruyere and mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of bread crumbs. LaDou titles it ``pizza Rockefeller.''

The New York segment lists the everyday plain cheese and tomato sauce pizza, both a stromboli (with pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms) and all-veggie gardinara. There are also a dozen optional toppings at 75 cents each on the smaller 10-inch pizza or $1.25 each on the 14-inch.

LaDou's competence shows up on his Caesar salad, a nicely balanced, not overdressed, fresh-tasting version for $3.50 or $5.75.

And, of course, if you're pregnant and overdue, you can join the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who, over the years, have opted for ``the salad'' (also $3.50 and $5.75 sizes), which brings together romaine and watercress with gorgonzola, walnuts and LaDou's balsamic-basil vinaigrette dressing, to purportedly bring on labor.

Actually, it happens to be a pretty good salad even if you're a male or nonpregnant female diner.

There's also a terrific little salad mix featuring cucumbers, kalamata olive pieces and walnuts ($3.50 or $5.75) attributed to someone named Joan.

But if you order the smaller salad, it arrives on an itty-bitty glass plate. Not that I'm complaining about the portion size, just about the plate size.

In the pasta category, you'll find such intrigues as pheasant ravioli ($8.75) made with green-toned spinach dough in a rich oyster mushroom sauce, and broken lasagna ($8.75) with pieces of the curvy pasta rectangles topped with grilled chicken, corn, cilantro, roasted peppers, onions and an earthy guajillo chile sauce.

For its limited decorative touch, the cafe has several framed menus of yesteryear on the walls and a few photos of unrecognizable faces.

``Are they members of the LaDou family?'' I asked the waiter.

``Oh no,'' he answered. ``Ed picked them up at a second-hand store.''

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Caioti Pizza Cafe.

Where: 4346 Tujunga Ave., Studio City.

Phone: [phone].

When: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays, for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Behind the scenes: Ed LaDou is chef-owner.

Recommended items: Caesar salad, Joan's cucumber salad with kalamata olives, pizzas (especially the Rockefeller and caramelized shallots with roasted potato pies), pheasant ravioli with oyster mushroom sauce, broken lasagna, half a pressed crispy chicken with ponzu sauce, Sweet Lady Jane's cakes.

How much: Everything under $10 except three large pizzas ($13 to $15.95). AE, MC, V.

Wine list: No alcohol license.

Our rating: Three and One Half Stars for food; Three Stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Caioti Pizza Cafe owners Bonnie, left, and Ed LaDou offer pies for many palates at their new location.

(2) The pizzas available at Caioti include this rendition with smoked salmon, creme freche, golden caviar, thyme, mozzarella and goat cheese.