At this point on our journey of discovering the best food in LA, we’ve gone a bit out of order, but bear with us. This was the first time that we went somewhere “on our list” that left us disappointed with the overall experience. With that being said, I wouldn’t call it a bad dinner, there were just a lot of areas for improvement…a lot.
(Note: We would like to apologize for the poor quality of the photos. Even though we brought the good camera, as we mention soon, the lighting quickly went from bad to awful, so we had a hard time capturing the food.)
The five of us wanted to try as much as possible, so we ordered a lot, and our conclusion was that most of the “red” dishes were enjoyable, while the “white” dishes were lacking. Also, service was a bit underwhelming from the start. Yes, they had our reservation and table ready for us, which wasn’t hard since we walked in right as they opened for dinner service. Unfortunately, it took 30 minutes to place our food order, and the party at the table next to us (which was seated after us) was already eating their salads when our waiter returned.
Also, it was intriguing to find that they dimmed the lights and turned up the music considerably only 45 minutes after opening. We thought they should have just done that from the start, or waited until early diners were finished and the late night crowd showed up because one thing was obvious about this place, during and after our meal… it is more about the drinks than the food.
The dinner menu (and dessert menu) were 75-80% alcohol and only 20-25% food. They like to make you happy, right? They like to keep a small menu and execute everything perfectly, right? I wish that was the case. Unfortunately, we found far too many flaws on nearly all of our plates.
The five of us all agreed that the arugula salad was the highlight of the meal. It was perfectly dressed and well-salted with fresh ingredients of the highest quality. The tomatoes were ripe and every bite was balanced with beautiful acidity. The pumpkin seeds provided that bit of crunch to make it a really engaging dish. We fought over seconds.
Next best was probably the Stanton Pizza. The red sauce was robust, with a sweetness that allowed for complexity in every bite. The best bites were those with the olives, which provided a nice brininess. And who doesn’t love burrata? While the crust was clearly different from that of the Horatio, in a good way, the pizza lacked structural integrity and thus, fell apart too easily.
Then, we enjoyed the meatballs in an Arrabbiata sauce. It was the only note of heat we had in the meal, which was refreshing in its own way. The meatballs were well cooked, there was enough sauce and there really wasn’t anything wrong with them, other than the steep-ish price point.
At this point, we found that the rest of the dishes desperately lacked seasoning, particularly salt.
Starting with the Horatio, the crust was starchy and grainy, to the point that no one (except me, the human garbage disposal) ate theirs. The mushrooms were also haphazardly spread, so the slices with ample mushrooms made the others look (and taste) inferior. When the truffle oil was hanging out by itself on a slice, it was out of control. Those mushrooms held the show together. The egg was cooked well, a perfect sunny side up and that yolk was much appreciated.
We disagreed over the presence of the chicken liver gravy in the short rib agnolotti. I felt as though that mineral earthiness was there in a significant way, while others couldn’t detect it through the truffle. Either way, we all agreed that this dish would’ve been perfect if only it was served with a slice of lemon and a little more salt. Still, it was good.
The potato gnocchi also divided the table. We actually argued over the execution of the gnocchi. I felt that it was broken and lacked the pillowy texture it needed, while others simply said it was well cooked. Oh well, if you’re looking for an earthy and meaty dish; this is it! The olives were buried by the boar and sage, and the dish lacked anything other than its own unique richness.
The cacio e pepe, did not however, divide the table. They gave me a look when I ordered it because I typically order one of two things at a restaurant… either their craziest signature dish or a simple dish that requires flawless execution. Since they all ordered the former, I went with the latter. When you pay $14 for pasta with cheese and pepper, it better be perfect, but it wasn’t. While the pasta itself was well cooked, it lacked salt and the cheese didn’t properly adhere to the noodles, thus pooling up at the bottom of the plate. And while there was evidently plenty of pepper in the dish, we couldn’t detect that signature flavor.
The table really enjoyed the bottle of wine (sauvignon blanc) that we ordered. Service was on point when it came to the drinks (no surprise), as they gave us an ice bucket. It was an overall disappointing but intriguing dining experience. Parts of the meal felt like high dining while other felt like we were in a bar, which they obviously have. The prices and quality just didn’t match up at the end of the meal. While we were tempted to order their cannolis/cheesecake for dessert, we doubted their ability to create such technical desserts after their failure to properly execute certain mains.
Of course, we’re bound to have good and bad experiences on this journey, but that doesn’t make or break a place. This wasn’t one of the critically acclaimed locations; we found this through Guy Fieri’s DDD, but we couldn’t even figure out what unique nuances justified its place on the show. Either way, this is definitely an Italian/pizza place we probably won’t be giving a second chance to, but go check it out for yourself!
Stay hungry and fit!
