Angelini Osteria: A Neighborhood Gem

It has taken me too long to visit this neighborhood gem.  Angelini Osteria is located on Beverly Blvd., a street that I have traversed with great frequency (the Beverly Center was my designated shopping mall when I was a tween and teen).  It is a street that I know very well.  Ten years ago, Beverly Blvd. was a bit of a wasteland, but now wonderful restaurants line the streets interspersed by small label designer boutiques and avant-garde furniture shops.

The restaurant is compact and bustling.  There is an outdoor patio that would be a lovely place to have dinner in the summer or for sunny SoCal winters.  From my window seat, I have a view of Milk, diagonally across the street.  Angelini Osteria is a place about eating good food, enjoying a nice red, and sharing bites and conversation with your neighbors (whose table will possibly be, literally, less than one foot away, so unneighborly people, be warned!)

The complimentary bread basket is filled with anything but filler.  The thin crispy flat bread is amazingly tasty.  With every bubbly crunch, you get nips of salt and hints of toasted butter.  I am pretty sure I love it more than my friend.  I cannot resist chomping on it until they are all gone.  A quick glance at our neighbors' bread basket makes me realize that you start with a generous pile of crisps to begin with.  eep!  No matter, it does not ruin this trooper's appetite.  :P

Ever since having the salad of the year for me--Lucques' heirloom tomato salad with burrata--when I see this veggie/cheese combination, I hear "ding ding ding!"  Angelini Osteria's caprese with heirloom tomatoes and burrata does not disappoint, but it does not best Lucques' by any stretch of the imagination.  Salads come and go, but Lucques' made an indelible impression.  But, I digress.

The heirloom tomatoes are not as ripe as they could and should be.  Because when heirloom tomatoes are perfectly ripe, they achieve the perfection of preternatural fresh sweetness, a taste that you cannot get sick of, the flavor of your ideal breath mints, chewing gum, cough syrup.  You want to replicate it until you emit it from your own breath.  This all said, Angelini Osteria's is very nice and the burrata has a lovely coolness and cuts easily with a butter knife.

caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and burrata

My friend relays to me that the lasagna verde is a favorite.  She is right on the money.  With a wonderful homemade taste, it has a fabulous meat to tomato sauce ratio, creating a perfect square that cuts with moist ease.  Veneered by a layer of nicely browned, crispy-chewy cheese and showered with spinach leaf crisps, it is remarkably filling.

lasagna verde "Omaggio Nonna Elvira"

For pasta number two, we select bombolotti alla amatriciana for some flavor contrast.  It is a ribbed tubular pasta coated with a deep-flavored tomato sauce prepared with guanciale (unsmoked dried pork cheek) and hot peppers for a dash of spice.  The sauce is a savory win, but the pasta, unfortunately, is unevenly cooked (some of the tubes are frankly hard, too much resistence "to the tooth"; al dente literally means "to the tooth").

bombolotti alla amatriciana

At this point, I am feeling the takeover of carbs in my ballooning belly.  I sip my wine and sink into my chair, dreaming about dessert.  However, instead of the desserts menu, what should appear before me, but a beautiful arranged plate of the secondi.

branzino roasted in sea salt with vegetables and mashed potato (split into two plates)

I completely forgot about the branzino!  The waiter breaks the salt crust and filets it onto your plate, but I either missed it (due to becoming a bleary-eyed beluga) or we missed out.  I will explicitly ask for this tableside performance next time because I love tableside shows.  *clap clap clap*

The fish is clearly cooked to moist perfection, breaking apart with the ease of your nondominant hand.  Flavorful flakes take turns joining green beans, broccoli crowns, and cauliflower on my fork, all seasoned with palatable expertise.

My friend is game for the panna cotta.  Whenever I see it on the menu at a reputable place, I like to give it a go, wanting to compare it to my benchmark.  Angelini Osteria's is a vanilla bean panna cotta served with blackberries and strawberries.  Vanilla bean is always such a delight and Angelini Osteria's is ultra welcoming with its beauteous flecks of black.  Although it does not best Delfina's in S.F., my benchmark, and is more watery than what I am used to, the vanilla bean flavor comes through and, all in all, works as a great palate cleanser.

vanilla bean panna cotta with blackberries and strawberries

The one misstep of dinner is the undercooked bombolotti.  But, the authentic vibe and aromas of the restaurant hit me on the head as soon as I walked in, followed by a rather awkward hovering at the small entranceway while they set up our table.

In short, Angelini Osteria is a warm, lovingly traditional, and intimate restaurant that can get loud and with not much leg room to spare.  If that is not your speed, maybe try Gino Angelini's other restaurant on W. 3rd St.  I went to the now closed La Terza, also owned by Angelini, and I was not impressed; I MUCH prefer Angelini Osteria.  Personally, I think the cozy set-up suits the rustic Italian menu and I love a nice neighborhood restaurant that can get neighborly.  The fact that this exists in L.A., far from being a city of neighborhoods let alone being neighborly has me a little flummoxed.  :)  A winning experience for me, I will be back for the spaghetti alla carbonara and crostata di Marmellata.

Angelini Osteria

7313 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 297-0070

www.angeliniosteria.com