Fuel up at Basani's on pizza and pasta before heading across the street for shopping at Midtown Miami. Look for the planters on Northeast Second Avenue with bougainvillea.

Caracas-born chef-owner Marcus Galeiras learned to cook Italian at the New York Hotel and Restaurant Management School and learned the business by helping his mom at the Venezuelan restaurant she opened in the East Village after they immigrated. He met his Cuban-born wife, Sonia, on a trip to Miami. Two children and 29 years later, they work as team.

They ran a pizzeria in Hialeah before buying this spot four months ago, naming it for a childhood friend of Marcus'. Sonia works the front and Marcus cooks with the help of Jorge Hernandez.

The brick-oven pizza crust is supple with puffy edges. The vegetarian version is lightly brushed with sauce and spread with black olives, mushrooms, peppers, bits of broccoli, spinach and fresh basil leaves. Melted mozzarella and bits of crumbled feta cheese top it. Or choose grilled chicken with barbecue, the casino with clams, bacon and green peppers, or a take on Hawaiian with ham, bacon, pineapple and roasted red peppers on a base of Alfredo sauce.

Also from the oven, half-moon calzone stuffed with three cheeses and a choice of three other ingredients. The stromboli is rolled up with pepperoni, sausage, peppers and two layers of cheese.

Entrees include eggplant Parmesan, chicken francese and a full range of pastas -- jumbo ravioli, baked ziti, meat lasagne, ricotta-stuffed shells, spaghetti al pesto and fettuccini carbonara.

Big salads, an antipasto platter, minestrone soup, subs, wraps and house-made tiramisu round out the menu. There's no beer and wine license yet, but customers are encouraged to bring their own bottle; there's no corkage charge.