Yearly Archives: 2014

Bestia (Los Angeles, CA) [2]

Posted on by January 12, 2014

Bestia
2121 7th Pl.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Dining date: 8/17/13, 11/8/13, 1/3/14

bestia exterior

Bestia has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants in the city with its delicious Italian food. I’m not the only one that’s visited regularly as the restaurant seems to be packed night-in and night-out for those stopping in for Ori Menashe’s food, wife Genevieve’s desserts, or Julian Cox’s cocktails. Maybe even all three.

I’ve dined at Bestia every couple of months; my first post covered my first three meals while this one recaps my last three visits. Each time, we’ve ordered a mix of ‘old’ favorites and new ones, slowly making our way through the ever-changing seasonal menu.

bestia interior

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Nopa (San Francisco, CA) [2]

Posted on by January 8, 2014

Nopa
560 Divisadero St
San Francisco, CA 94117
Dining date: 12/26/13

exterior

Nopa opened almost eight years ago but continues to be one of the more popular restaurants in San Francisco. That was never more evident than in my last visit; attemps to get a reservation weeks in advance weren’t successful and we ended up waiting just about 3.5 hours for a walk-in table of 6 (5:30pm-9pm).

interior

The occasion for this dinner was a birthday meal for grandma; my cousins and I took her out. My one previous meal here was with this same group, a late night meal two years ago after a dinner at Marlowe. We overstuffed ourselves that night and weren’t able to fully appreciate the second-dinner; this return visit was in the works for a while.

Nopa’s most notable dish has to be its pork chop; in-line with that, all six of us ordered that as our entree. However, we still diversified things a bit with additional appetizers and desserts.

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Perbacco (San Francisco, CA)

Posted on by January 5, 2014

Perbacco
230 California St
San Francisco, CA 94111
Dining date: 12/23/13

perbacco

Perbacco has been open for some time now (2006) but this was my first visit. For a number of years, I kept hearing good things about the restaurant but it never quite made it high enough on the list to actually go. On my most recent trip up to San Francisco for the holidays, I finally made the trip to the popular Italian restaurant. I’m glad I did.

perbacca interior

Perbacco strives for a balance between traditional Italian and modern influences. No pizza here, but the menu is made up of a good number of salumi, appetizers, pastas and main courses. Between my mother, brother and I (dad was working late), we ordered a couple of appetizers but honed in on the pastas and mains.

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Terroni Downtown (Los Angeles, CA)

Posted on by January 1, 2014

Terroni Downtown LA
802 S Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Dining date: 11/16/13

DD0_5307

Terroni has been on my list of restaurants to try for some time now. I first tried a sampling of the restaurant at The Taste 2011, where they were making a selection of their pastas fresh on the spot. The Toronto-based chain has had a location opened on Beverly in mid-city for a number of years, but recently opened up in a huge space downtown.

DD0_5304

My visit to Terroni was unplanned. Initially, we were planning to visit new ‘Chinese gastropub’ Peking Tavern but found it closed for a private party. Terroni shares the same building so it was an easy choice for an alternative stop. Given it was noon on a weekend, Terroni was serving up their brunch menu. I don’t like eating brunch as my first visit to a restaurant, but they still offered their extensive full menu (a long list of appetizers, salads, pastas and pizzas).

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