Two Great Osteria in LA

I report on two upscale Italian restaurants--each with its own excellent reputation: Angelini Osteria and Osteria Mozza. Of the two, Mozza is more famous and it's more difficult to get a reservation there. I preferred Angelini far and away...


When I am in LA, I stay with my friends, Joel and Rusty. To show my appreciation we choose a great restaurant for me to take them to. This year it was Osteria Angelini: a small, unassuming restaurant with reputation for spectacular food.

A short bus ride from West Hollywood, Angelini's doors open to a festive and very spare restaurant with tables crammed in every which way. The wait staff is very Italian and very friendly. I was taken with the spectacle surrounding the fish baked in a salt crust. I had never seen a more beautifully conceived presentation, and I decided that we would have to have that.

Although we are not big eaters, we love to eat good food. We decided to share three dishes: Mussels and Clams alla Tarantina (with spicy tomato sauce and garlic); Hommade Spaghetti Chitarra alla Norcina with Black Truffles, Sausage, Parmigiano Reggiano; Whole Branzino Roasted in Sea Salt with Aromatic Herbs.






Everything was superb: flavorful and lovingly prepared and, of course, delicious. The chitarra are difficult to make. Apparently, they are rolled out and forced through what looks like guitar strings. As a result they have square sides rather than the round tubes that normal spaghetti has. Their sauce was spectacular. The fish was also an excellent dish. The salt crush ensures the natural juiciness of the flesh.

I love Italian red wines and despite the fact that there were two fish on our menu, we chose the Barbara d'Alba 2008 Vigna Martina, Elio Grasso.

Ready for the dessert course, we also shared and decided to get the two desserts that looked most appealing: Apple Tart all a Milanese with Vanilla Gelato; Crostata di Cioccolato with Coffee Cream and Hazelnut Gelato.






For me, this was a perfect meal. Sharing enabled us to taste a number of dishes and at the end, we were not too full.

Osteria Mozza was a grave disappointment. I love Pizzeria Mozza next door and have only heard raves about the food at the osteria. They have a pasta tasting and we should have chosen that. The pastas we did order were excellent: Veal Agnolotti, burro e salvia; Squid Ink Chitarra Freddi with Dungeness crab, sea urchin and jalapeño. But the main courses were awful: Ugly to look at and rather fatty. My friend ordered roast duck and I chose the guinea hen. We each love the meats we chose until we looked at what was served to us!






The sommelier proposed our wines to us, and I also didn't like her choices but wasn't in the mood to complain. Until we arrived at the desserts (the famous warm Bombolini with Huckleberry Marmelatta and Lemon Marscapone with gelato al vanilla), I was quite dissatisfied. I think I'll stick with Pizzeria Mozza.