Sotto :: All Things Andy Gavin

Archive for Sotto

Sotto Rossoblu Mashup

Nov17

Restaurant: Sotto [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035 310.277.0210

Date: September 27, 2018

Rating: Bold flavors, off to a great start!

This was a peculiar lunch, the annual Chevalier’s “Grand Cru” lunch which was supposed to be at Rossoblu — but they had a kitchen fire and so it was relocated to their sister restaurant Sotto.

Sotto has a nice location on Pico underneath Beverly Hills.

I’ve never been here in the day and it looks far less bar-like.

And there is a big bar.

With live music, which is a typical Chevaliers thing.

I forgot to photo all the bottles today, but I did manage the opening white.

And the champagne.

Parmesan Crisps.

Wood grilled oysters, brown butter, sage, parmigiano-reggiano, lemon, breadcrumbs.

Crescentine Fritte, Burrata, Caviar.

The special menu for the day.

Wood grilled bread.

Marinated Big Eye Tuna. Blood orange, hazelnuts, white bean.

Handmade Garganelli, lobster, peas, morels. I always love pasta — and lobster, so a very nice dish.

Braised Veal Cheeks. Chestnut Gremolata, cauliflower stracotto, carrots.

Chef’s selection of cheeses.

Crispy bread for the cheese.

While it ended up being located at Sotto, I think they used the same menu they had intended at Rossoblu so it’s definitely a hybrid. Food was very good though.

Wine was sort of typical for Chevaliers. Medium quality Burgundy, mid range producers, too young. A lot of wines I would not buy myself — they just wouldn’t individually draw me in for either quality, rating, value ratio etc. Like I never buy Morgon or Beaujolais. If I buy random 1re Cru Chassagne or Puligny wines I buy from much better producers than Chevaliers does. I’ll only slum the producers a bit with Grand Cru wines — and not that much either. Chevaliers also often buys funny vintages (not this particular lunch).

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.

By: agavin
Comments (0)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chevaliers, Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, lunch, Rossoblu, Sotto

Sotto – Sicilian & Sardinian Scents

Sep24

Restaurant: Sotto [1, 2, 3]

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.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Dessert, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, Pecorino Sardo, Restaurant, Sicilian cuisine, Sotto

Sotto – Sicily con Sardo

Apr18

Restaurant: Sotto [1, 2, 3]

Location: 9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035 310.277.0210

Date: April 16, 2011

Cuisine: Sicilian and Sardinian Italian

Rating: Bold flavors, off to a great start!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This new venture into the crowded LA Italian scene is a welcome change of pace. Sotto offers very reasonably priced regional Italian dishes (southern, with a Sicilian and Sardinian slant) with an unabashed traditionalism of a sort. There is no real effort on this menu to cater to the long standing American Italian palette, as influences as it is by late 19th century Southern Italian cooking. This is no red sauce (restaurant with red and white checkered table cloths and chianti bottles).

Located in the rising lower Beverly Hills district we had to fight through crowds leaving shul to descend into the packed, loud, and hard surfaced interior.

The short but very reasonable menu.

James Suckling gives this 2004 Poggio Il Castellare Brunello 94 points. “A decadent and ultra-rich red, with plum tart, prunes, cooked meat and berries. Full bodied, with soft and silky tannins and a long, flavorful finish. An aromatically beautiful wine. Best after 2012.”

“Pittule pugliese (vincotto, ricotta).” These little fritters tasted like supreme funnel cake, and were delicious with the fresh ricotta and vincotto (which is a sweet grape must). The amusing thing, for me, about this dish is that it’s pretty much straight out of Apicius, the 1800+ year-old cookbook. Delicious any way you cut it, but very filling.

“Blistered little gems (anchovy garlic pestata, breadcrumbs, pecorino moliterno.” An interesting salad with a smoky grilled flavor.

“Shaved beet and mixed chicory salad (wheatberries, lemon vinaigrette, fiore sardo).”

Olives. There was a little wait between the first and second courses and they brought us these complementary olives.

“Bruschetta lardo.” And this gratis charred bread spread with lard and fennel pollen. Very wood fired (not to mention rich taste). I was in danger of extreme over eating before the entrees even came.

“Maharrones de pungiu (sugo semplice, fiore sardo).” A wonderful homemade take on a simple tomato and cheese pasta. The choice of fiore sardo (a Sardinian cheese) gave it a slightly different tang.

“Casarecce (braised lamb ragu, egg, pecorino).” This was one damn fine pasta. The pasta itself had exactly the right texture and firmness of good homemade egg pasta. The ragu was nicely flavorful and meaty. Yum! I love great ragu. Some of my other favorites are here at Drago or at Capo.

“Pizza Marherita (tomato, mozzerella, basil, EVOO).” Your basic Marherita, but well done. These pizzas have a VERY wood fired taste going on, much like those from Gjelina, they are a little over-fired to my taste. The dough is good, but they taste very strongly of the grill (char, smoky flavors). When I do them on the stones in my hot gas grill (see my Ultimate Pizza) they showcase the dough and toppings a bit more.

“Pizza Salsiccia e friarieli (sausage, broccoli di ciccio, mozzarella, chillies).” A very nice meaty sausage paired with the bitter tones of the Italian brocoli. Interesting, and good.

“Bittersweet chocolate crostata, hazelnuts, salted rosemary caramel.” This looked amazing, and the texture was fantastic and very chocolaty. There was a slightly odd flavor tone in here, which might have been the rosemary. I’m not sure it added, although certainly I enjoyed it.

After 11 and the place is beginning to thin out a bit. I really enjoyed Sotto and it BOLD take on Italian. This is heady stuff, and the homemade pastas were totally amazing.