Best Of Tucson®

Best Italian

Gavi

Painting dramatic biblical scenes on your ceiling? Seeing green, white and red striped flags flutter in your mind's eye? Insisting to everyone you meet that "they don't make 'em like Joe DiMaggio anymore?" If you've got these or similar symptoms, it's probably just a simple pasta deficiency. A recommended cure: a trip to Gavi, where you'll find some of the finest Italian chow this side of Manhattan's Little Italy. The tortellini pesto crema is excellent; the eggplant parmigiana is succulent; and the spinach and cheese lasagna will melt in your mouth. The portions are always heaping, giving you a choice between leaving the table incredibly stuffed or taking home plenty of leftovers--to help ward off a recurrence of those symptoms.

Runners up:

2. Vivace, 4310 N. Campbell Ave., 795-7221

3. Caruso's, 434 N. Fourth Ave., 624-5765