Here's one of my other pieces in LA Confidential's January-February issue, and it's about a cute new hostaria, kind of like a little taverna, in Santa Monica from the folks over at Piccolo in Venice, which is another great Italian cucina on the Westside.Though the article is up on the LAC site, I've pasted the text in below with the details on all the dishes I enjoyed, including the black squid ink pizza...buon appetito!
Hostaria del Piccolo
There’s a new restaurant from the same group of gregarious Italianos behind Piccolo in Venice. Drawing upon the rustic Italian tradition of hostarias—roadside eateries serving regional specialties in a communal setting—Hostaria del Piccolo is a congenial place with a small bar, a back patio and a cheerfully noisy open kitchen. It’s an inviting ambience to take in a glass of wine and antipasti such as seared ricotta with seasonal mushrooms. Here the driving philosophy is “eat less, taste more,” which you can do with bowls of homemade pasta, including the garganelli with porcini sauce, truffle oil and Parmesan cream; and delicate pizzas piled with fresh ingredients, like a concoction of creamy burrata, seared ahi, tomato sauce and microgreens on purple-black squid crust. To drink you’ll find a list of wines spanning the Italian peninsula, unusual European beers and classic cocktails—such as a fizzy Aperol Spritz with Prosecco and soda. 606 Broadway, Santa Monica; hostariadelpiccolo.com —Eric Rosen
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