Location: 802 S Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90015. 323-954-0300
Date: October 4, 2015
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Solid Italian
Terroni is a small chain (5 restaurants) of high end Italians out of Toronto. They have two locations now in LA, Beverly Hills and Downtown.
The Downtown location is situated in a stunning early 20th century space with great vaulted ceilings.
From my cellar: 2007 Podere Il Cocco Brunello di Montalcino. 94 points. Great young Brunello. It needs a few more years as it’s intense and hot.
Barbabietole. arugula, beet, goat cheese, pistachios, balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.
Nizzarda. arugula, Italian tuna, potatoes, eggs, red onions, tomatoes black olives, green beans, anchovy, white wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.
Prosciutto d’Anatra e Burrata. duck prosciutto, burrata, fresh spinach and extra-virgin olive oil.
Kids spaghetti.
Kids penne.
Cavatelli alla Norma. cavatelli in a light tomato sauce with deep fried eggplant, aged ricotta, basil and garlic.
Gluten free pasta.
Spaghetti al Limone. spaghetti with spinach, onions, capers, shavings of parmigiano with lemon and extra-virgin olive oil.
Pasta Norcina. Spaghetti with ground sausage, Pecorino, black truffles. The oddity here, is that the “real” (Italian) version of this Umbrian dish is LOADED with cream and cheese. It’s basically a cream sauce (and delicious). This lighter version was tasty, but it isn’t real Norcina.
Pizza C’t Mang. white pizza with mozzarella, gorgonzola, fresh pears, walnuts, speck (smoked prosciutto) and honey. Delicious pizza with that sweet and salty thing I love.
Zabaione and pear gelato. My gelato is way better. This Zabaione was just a eggy vanilla. No citrus or marsala that I could detect. Weak!
Chocolate gelato. Also not the greatest gelato. You couldn’t taste the milkiness. I think they used too much cacao powder so there wasn’t enough cocoa butter.
Nutella fritters and hazelnut gelato. These were good though, and the hazelnut gelato the best of the bunch.
Crema Catalana. Classic.
Overall this was a totally solid Italian meal. Trying to be “more Italian” than most, but not quite getting all the way there. Still, most dishes were quiet good. Bear in mind that I’m a serious Italian snob :-).
Service was solid, although there seemed to be a few too many rules about modifications (which is corporate I’m sure).
Oh, and they are open through (i.e. they don’t close between lunch and dinner). That can be convenient sometimes, and it was here.