GOURMET CATERS TO GO-GO CROWD.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Two years old and with a grand opening sign still prominently displayed on its facade, Gourmet on the Go in Sherman Oaks is a tiny pizza, pasta and salad place with a huge menu and lots of guts.

Brave enough to use the word ``gourmet'' in its name, it claims to make everything from scratch, including its floury, fresh-tasting pizza dough.

No slouch at marketing, it sells its own T-shirts and publishes a bimonthly newsletter.

With a mere couple of tables inside and out and a counter inside, it appears to specialize in food to go rather than on-premises service.

It's the kind of metro kitchen that appears just as happy to sell you a New York-style, thin-crust slice of cheese pizza for $2.50 as a snack on the run, as preparing a bountiful to-go order of $25 or more.

Respectable pizzas and acceptable salads served with garlic-brushed ``knot'' rolls fill you up fast here.

One of the more unusual salads that should appeal to those with health concerns is called the Rojak.

Available in a medium ($6.95) or large ($8.95) size, it has green apple, pineapple, jicama, bean sprouts, scallions, fried tofu chunks and comes with a tangy sesame dressing.

There are two versions of Chinese chicken salad, one dubbed Mandarin, the other titled Shanghai.

I like the latter ($6.95 or $7.95), fashioned with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, mozzarella and grilled chicken breast, tossed with the same sesame dressing as the Rojak (unless a different one -- there are nine options -- is requested).

Pastas with creamy sauces tend toward gloppiness, so it's best to stay away from anything with the word ``cream'' in its menu description.

Raviolis ($10 to $16) are the round and soft kind filled with a variety of stuffings and are probably best ordered with the sauce on the side, simply because, as previously mentioned, they'll quickly lose their identity when smothered in some of the kitchen's creamier mixtures.

Speaking of mixtures, the one obvious thing Gourmet on the Go does very well is make soup.

And truthfully, this is not the kind of place where you'd expect superior-quality soups.

But at $1.95 for a smaller but quite satisfying bowl, both the Tuscan bean and vegetable soups here have been out-and-out winners.

Untried to date are the mushroom barley, minestrone, cream of tomato and clam chowder offerings.

Note that the kitchen here usually prepares two soups each day.

It also makes a number of hero and panini sandwiches, decent herb-flavored fries ($1.95 or $3.95) and jalapeno-cream cheese poppers (three for $1.95, six for $3.50) with a ranch dressing dip.

As for sweet endings, a wedge of lemon bundt cake ($1.50) receives our No. 1 nod in the dessert category.

But please forgive me. I couldn't pluck up enough courage to try something described as a ``fried PB&J'' ($8.25).

The menu lists it as a ``nut-encrusted mouthful topped with powdered sugar ... mmhhh!''

Sorry, but I ate my last peanut butter and jelly sandwich sometime around the middle of the last century.

How things have changed.

I guess they're telling me that this is what a gourmet eats today.

Well, not every gourmet.

Just one on the go.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

[e-mail]

GOURMET ON THE GO

Food: Two stars - Service: Two stars - Value: Two and one half stars

Where: 5162 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Phone: [phone];

www.gourmetotg.com.

Meals/hours: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Food type: Italian/American.

Cost: Soups and salads from $1.95 to $8.95, pizzas and sandwiches from $6.95 to $18.95, pastas and entrees from $9.95 to $15.95, desserts from $1.50 to $8.25.

Credit cards: AE, MC, V.

Patio dining: Yes.

Parking/valet: Street parking. No valet.

Full bar: No liquor or beer and wine licenses.

Music/entertainment: No.

Takeout/delivery: Both.

Reservations: First come, first served.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

The grilled salmon panini is among the skillfully prepared fare served at Gourmet on the Go in Sherman Oaks.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News