Business is booming in the month since its opening, and not just because of the menu and atmosphere. Both Matt and Yvette stressed the importance of keeping their prices affordable so that families can come out and have a nice time with good food without hemorrhaging money. “I want people to have great food for a good price and just have a nice night out,” Yvette said.

Matteo’s is molto bene. Like OneSpeed in East Sacramento, the Carmichael eatery pitches itself as primarily a pizza place. Like OneSpeed, it’s a lot more. And a primary reason is the gifted owner and chef. In Matteo’s case, that is Matt Woolston, head honcho along with his wife, Yvette, at the Supper Club on Del Paso Boulevard. Before that, Woolston had a 12-year stint as executive chef for David Berkley. The spacious establishment, with its colorful artwork and high ceiling dotted with cylinder-shaped cloth lights, is two different places, depending on the meal. At lunch, the pace is relaxed, almost languid, with empty tables and booths and nary a person at the long crescent bar at the restaurant’s rear. Dinner is far more frenetic. Capacity crowds, knots of folks at the bar and a healthy percentage of wannabe patrons waiting for seats by the two wine casks with a door on top that serves as the hostess station. Dinner is with daughter Katie and her oldest and bestest friend, Adrianna. They’ve been pals since preschool and now are in the throes of applying to college. As my former colleague at the San Francisco Chronicle said: “Just when they start getting interesting, they leave home.” There is plenty of pizza on the menu. The Matteo is meaty: Italian sausage, pepperoni, chorizo, bacon and four cheeses. The Stu, named for chef Stu Edgecombe presumptively, is more eclectic: mushrooms, prosciutto, caramelized onions, arugula, fontina and truffle oil.

The Californian—Matteo’s Pizza & Bistro Leave the calorie counter at home—this pizza is slathered with a rich garlic cream, then topped with hunks of organic chicken, baby artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese. Wolfgang Puck would be proud.

1-second review: “Very good for a nice pizza evening out,” said Sue Scotland; husband Art called it a “be-back restaurant.” Ambiance: Not your typical pizza parlor, said Cathy Taylor, who liked the neighborhood charm and bistro food. Dishing on the dishes: Lunchers agreed (a rarity) on their favorites: Bledsoe pulled-pork sliders; the namesake Matteo pizza topped with Italian sausage, pepperoni, chorizo, bacon, four cheeses and spicy tomato sauce (“a pizza with pizazz,” said Diva Joan Leineke); and the traditional root beer float with enough straws to go around.

..The wine list for the evening was quite extensive, and included a broad range of producers, including some big names (i.e. Silver Oak and Kistler) as well as some local bonded Sacramento producers, like Soto, James Blake and Starr Johnson. I steered away from the more familiar names and zeroed in on the many unknowns on the list.