Location: 9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035 310.277.0210
Date: September 13 26, 2012
Cuisine: Sicilian and Sardinian Italian
Rating: Bold flavors, off to a great start!
While LA is packed with Italian restaurants, Sotto is fairly unique in embracing a rustic southern Italian style. This isn’t your old school Sicilian or Neapolitan American either, but the hearty traditional fare of Italy’s Spanish and Moorish influenced regions. I’ve been here a number of times before, but it’d been a while, and the place is good, so it was time to return.
The loud but chummy interior.
The menu.
Parker 91, “The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is a fresh, vibrant offering bursting with dark cherries, violets, underbrush, minerals and sweet toasted oak on a medium-bodied frame. The wine reveals terrific balance in an energetic, focused style, with firm yet ripe tannins. The finish is long, clean and refreshing. This is a gorgeous effort from Loacker.”
“Marinated sardine crostini {English pea macco, pickled onions, mint}.” Really tasty mix: a sort of caprese with fish and it works perfectly.
“Mixed greens and shaved beet salad {wheatberries, lemon vinaigrette, Fiore Sardo}.”
“Grilled mackerel in scapece {cauliflower, cured lemons, crispy buckwheat, pesto pantesca}” This was a delicious fish dish.
“Eggplant involtini al forno {tomato passata, burrata, breadcrumbs}” It’s hard to ever go wrong with baked eggplant, cheese, and tomatos, and this was no exception. Yum!
Parker 94, “The 2005 Shardana is an awesome Carignano endowed with exuberant dark fruit, smoke, licorice, sage, rosemary and tar. This is a fairly big, masculine wine with great intensity, depth and roundness. It needs another year or two in bottle for the tannins to settle down. The Shardana is formidable, though, and a terrific choice for hearty cuisines.”
“Casarecce {braised lamb ragu, egg, pecorino}” The pastas here are fantastic with a really chewy homemade mouth feel.
“Fileja calabresi {nero di seppia, cherry tomatoes, peperoncino}” This seppia pasta was terrific, sweet, briny, and really chewy.
“Margherita {tomato, mozzarella, basil, EVOO}” Classic woodfire pizza.
“Salsiccia e friarielli {sausage, rapini, mozzarella, chilies}” Even better, with meat!
“Grilled lamb blade steak {white beans, calabrian chilies, almond salmoriglio}” The lamb was good, but the beans underneath were even better!
“Whole-grilled orata {braised artichoke acquasale, olive-pistachio vinaigrette}” A really nice fresh grilled fish.
The dessert menu.
“Cannoli Siciliani. ricotta, orange marmalade, pistachios, chocolate.”
“Bittersweet chocolate crostata. hazelnuts, salted rosemary caramel.”
The menu is fairly consistent here, with perhaps only 10-15% turnover in the year since I last visited. The food is hearty and delicious, with bright seafood Mediterranean flavors. A LOT of flavor! The only place I’ve been in LA that is similar is Hostaria del Piccolo.
For my first review of Sotto, click here.For my another of my reviews of Sotto, click here.
Or for a review of Drago, another Sicilian restaurant.
