My friend and I decided we wanted Chinese food for dinner, so we went to the Lotus on 4th and Wilshire. You might remember that I wrote a favorable review of it a year ago (it seems like last week). We arrived there to find it had closed – so much for Chinese food near the ocean! I heard a rumor recently that it will re-open as a Korean steak house. That will be nice – stay tuned.
We were pretty hungry, so we saw a new restaurant across the street and decided to go there. I had seen it for a while but hadn’t tried it yet. We were pleasantly surprised. The room was light and airy with high ceilings, and tables around a long table where large groups could sit (and did while we were there) with good spacing between the tables. That reminded me a bit of Basque restaurants where single people sat at a large table and mingled with others. Did you know there used to be a Basque restaurant in Santa Monica? In any event this is a beautiful restaurant and there are two patios outside, one covered and one open air. This will be a terrific venue if Santa Monica ever heats up.
I saw some good looking pizza coming out of the open view kitchen, but we decided on pasta. Both pasta dishes were excellent, and we were too full for dessert. The menu was pretty standard for Santa Monica Italian restaurants, but there is a chef’s special menu each week.
There are so many Italian restaurants in Santa Monica that it’s hard to find one that has something special that makes it worth going to. This restaurant has very few reviews on the internet, is not open for lunch, and doesn’t have anything on the menu not available in at least one or two dozen restaurants nearby. When I say something special, or different, I mean something like the duck ragu pasta I had at Felix a few weeks ago.
The food and service here is good, it has a nice setting, and the prices are middle of the road. They have an excellent drink menu although the wine list is average. If I find myself nearby one night when I’m hungry I’ll probably stop in, and perhaps have one of the very attractive courses on the menu, such as the Grilled Cauliflower, the Pollo ai Funghi ($34), or the Costata al Pepe (ribeye steak in brandy sauce $49). All of these dishes look very good on the menu. But I might end up at one of the other 200 Italian restaurants in town.
Osteria Del Fornaio
401 Wilshire Blvd
(424) 538-4488
Merv Hecht’s latest book “The Instant Wine Connoisseur” is available on Amazon.