One of the great mysteries of the culinary universe is how Brentwood in general, and San Vicente in particular, is able to support so many Italian restaurants. Every time someplace dies, it rises again Italian! Anyway, the food at Villetta was first rate. Really good actually, and the service was very friendly too (not super fast, but warm). The prices however are high. So I’d put this in the same category with Capo, Georgio Baldi, and Vincente of excellent but overpriced westside Italian.
Restaurant: Ozumo Location: 395 Santa Monica Place Santa Monica, CA 90401 T: 424.214.5130 Date: July 15, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Japanese / Sushi Rating: Good ANY CHARACTER HERE I’ve been slowly working my way through the new Santa Monica Place Mall dining scene. Which…
Restaurant: Trés [1, 2] Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555 Date: July 31, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Brunch Rating: Fantastique ANY CHARACTER HERE I follow José Andrés on twitter, and I was reading (and crying) about the final meal at…
Restaurant: Vu [1, 2] Location: 14160 Palaway Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 310.439.3033 Date: July 28 & 30, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Rating: Interesting, but a little all over the place ANY CHARACTER HERE My brother and I were out for our weekly lunch adventure…
Restaurant: Kiriko Sushi [1, 2] Location: 11301 Olympic Blvd #102, West Los Angeles, CA 90064. TELL (310) 478-7769 Date: July 8 & 21, Sept 21, 2011 Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi Rating: Very nice! ANY CHARACTER HERE At our giant Go Sushi love-fest one of…
Restaurant: Moko Location: 9540 Culver Blvd. Culver City, Ca. (310) 838-3131 Date: July 9, 2011 Cuisine: Modernized Korean Rating: Very tasty — Spicy! ANY CHARACTER HERE Moko is a newly opened Korean bar/restaurant serving very modernized variants using a Korean palette of flavors. This…
Restaurant: Continental Airlines Location: Somewhere above the Atlantic Date: June 30, 2011 Cuisine: Inedible Rating: Barftastic ANY CHARACTER HERE So after an epic four weeks of eating in Italy — where the worst meal was merely mediocre — we boarded…
Restaurant: Pizzeria Santa Lucia Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 29, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian / Pizza Rating: Good pizza ANY CHARACTER HERE On our last night in Italy (/cry) we wanted an early and quick meal prior to getting up…
Restaurant: Trattoria dei Pescatori Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 29, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Solid lunch ANY CHARACTER HERE On this particular morning we had actually visited the nearby town of Camogli and wanted to eat lunch there but…
Restaurant: Da Michele Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 28, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Solid ANY CHARACTER HERE Another evening pick in central Santa Margherita, just a block away from the previous night’s Antonios. Right in the main drag. The…
Restaurant: Antonios Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 27, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Best we had in Liguria ANY CHARACTER HERE I did my best at internet research to pick this restaurant in the heart of “downtown” Santa Margherita. It was #2…
Restaurant: N/Naka [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Location: 3455 S. Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034. 310.836.6252 Date: July 22, 2011 Cuisine: Modern Kaiseki Rating: Awesome _ N/Naka opened only three months ago. It’s the brainchild of chef/owner Niki Nakayama and is…
Restaurant: Gianni Franzi Location: Vernazza, Italy Date: June 27, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Solid local lunch ANY CHARACTER HERE We took a little train ride down to Cinque Terre, a very pretty region of five small towns clustered by the…
Restaurant: La Paranza Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 26, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Straightforward ANY CHARACTER HERE This restaurant was around the corner from the hotel, had a typical menu, and appeared very crowded at lunch. So we gave it a…
Restaurant: Grand Hotel Miramare (Breakfast) Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 26-29, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Mid level Italian breakfast ANY CHARACTER HERE As I’ve written about earlier, almost all hotels in Italy include buffet breakfast. The Grand Hotel Miramare…
Restaurant: Grand Hotel Miramare (Dinner) Location: Santa Margherita, Italy Date: June 25, 2011 Cuisine: Ligurian Rating: Old school ANY CHARACTER HERE Finally, we enter the final phase of our epic trip: Liguria. This is another seafood area, but quite different…
Restaurant: Il Castello Certaldo Location: Celtaldo, Italy Date: June 24, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Nice view, ok food ANY CHARACTER HERE Ah, the last meal in Tuscany! (except for breakfast) We took a couple hours to visit the cute little…
Restaurant: Pizzeria Pretorio Location: San Donato, Italy Date: June 22, 2011 Cuisine: Pizza Rating: Best pizza we had on the trip ANY CHARACTER HERE The wine guide who took us to Montacino seemed to have very good taste in food,…
Restaurant: Gelateria Santa Trinita Location: Florence, Italy Date: June 21, 2011 Cuisine: Gelato Rating: Awesome! ANY CHARACTER HERE On our first day in Florence we had walked by this Gelateria with huge lines (not far from Nove IX). And then…
Restaurant: Caffe Pitti Location: Florence, Italy Date: June 21, 2011 Cuisine: Tuscan Rating: Touristy location, very good food ANY CHARACTER HERE On our second day in Florence we came out of the Pitti Palace starved and thirsty. One of our…
