THE ITALIAN AMERICANS

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Did Miceli’s invent Hollywood’s idea of what an Italian restaurant should be, or did Hollywood invent Miceli’s? Owned by the same family since 1949, Miceli’s is an ancient, baroque pizzeria in the heart of Hollywood, all red candle globes, checked tablecloths and ceilings encrusted with Chianti flasks, atmospheric piano music and motherly waitresses. The menu of pizza, chicken cacciatore, and spaghetti and meatballs, antipasto salad, clams and spumoni is the same one you’ve been looking at all your life, even if you grew up in Iowa. The wine comes by the jug. Nobody has ever, ever come here for the food. But Miceli’s, as romantic as a bohemian Audrey Hepburn fantasy, could probably stand in for the restaurant in the famous spaghetti-eating scene in Lady and the Tramp. 1646 Las Palmas Ave., Hlywd., (323) 466-3438.

Frank and Scenes

Spaghetti and meatballs? Check. Black-and-white Rat Pack pix? Check. Exposed brick? Columbia-era Frank on the stereo? Around the corner from a club? Check, check, and check again. At Bella, a chicly appointed place within staggering distance of Rokbar and Geisha House, there are plenty of mirrors to gaze into, a passable beef carpaccio with well-dressed arugula salad, and a substantial martini list, which occupies the regulars somewhat more reliably than the cookie-cutter Italian cuisine. 1708 Las Palmas Ave., Hlywd., (323) 468-8815.

My Own Private Tuscany

Tuscany, the mammoth Italian province most famous for Gucci, the Renaissance and Da Vinci Code tours, has a cuisine that stretches from steak to beans and back again. You will occasionally find vegetables in a Tuscan restaurant, a roasted bird or two, and pasta, probably sauced with the remnants of a wild boar. But mostly there is meat. It is not accidental that Solociccia, where celebrity butcher Dario Cecchini serves up to a dozen courses of meat in a single meal, is located in the heart of Tuscany. Located in the heart of Little Tuscany, a Brentwood neighborhood where you are never farther than a block or two from a $400 sweater or a bowl of spaghetti pomodoro, Toscana pumps out plate after plate of the tricolor salads, flattened chickens and four-cheese pizza that have come to define “Tuscan” cooking in Los Angeles, which means rivers of bland olive oil and oceans of industrial balsamic vinegar, burrata and grilled squid, ricotta cheesecake and tiramisu. And it all comes down to steak and beans: a big fiorentina cooked in the wood oven and stewed cannelini beans on the side. Night after night, Toscana is as packed as the Donatello room at the Uffizi on a summer afternoon: In retrospect, it may have been the defining Los Angeles Italian restaurant of the ’90s. 11633 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, (310) 820-2448.

ITALIAN FOOD OF MANY LANDS

Tokyo Pop

When you travel through Italy, it sometimes feels as if there is no town so remote and no decent restaurant so obscure that there isn’t at least one Japanese cook in the kitchen, apron stiffened with boar’s blood and tomato sauce, tending the wood fire. Some people think that Tokyo’s Italian restaurants are among the best in the world, which makes a certain sense: Italian cooking, like Japanese cooking, is based on a frank expression of fresh ingredients inflected by a limited number of seasonings. At Il Chianti in Lomita, the only American location of a Tokyo-based Italian chain, the Web site is in Japanese, the menu is in Japanese, and the food, which leans heavily toward the raw-fish-based and tossed-with-uni, is pretty Japanese too. Meanwhile, Little Tokyo’s Capperi, where almost all of the customers are Japanese, may be the most orthodox old-style Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, a living museum of the sights and smells that many of us had assumed became extinct in the 1970s: textbook linguine with seafood; pizzas annealed into ruddy planes; veal scallopine finished with Marsala, and scarcely a dollop of cod roe or a drop of balsamic vinegar in sight, reproduced as faithfully, and occasionally as soullessly, as a wax model of spaghetti marinara. Il Chianti, 24503 Narbonne Ave., Lomita, (310) 325-5000. Capperi, 318 E. Second St., Little Tokyo, (213) 613-1003.

Aji: The Universal Solvent

At El Caserio, one of the few Ecuadorian kitchens in Los Angeles, you spoon the incendiary chile sauce aji over puffy white-cheese empanadas, the mashed-potato pancakes called llapingachos, or fresh-corn humitas, over fried green plantains or an already spicy goat stew. If you are of a mind to, you can also use the aji to spice up the penne alla vodka, spaghetti with pesto or any of the other Italian pastas that make up a huge chunk of the menu here. To wash it down, there’s Chianti, Ecuadorian beer or the delicious, peculiar juice of the Andean mountain blackberry mora, which tastes like new wine. 309 N. Virgil Ave., L.A., (323) 664-9266.

The Samba Beat

Zabumba may be the center of expatriate Brazilian life in Los Angeles; the headquarters of the local samba club; a hive of Brazilian karaoke; and the place you want to be, foaming glass of Brahma beer in your hand, when the Brazilian national soccer team is on TV. The cooking, of course, is Brazilian too — feijoada and grilled picanha and all that — except, oddly enough, when it is Italian, or some tropical version of Italian, with a respectable chicken parm, fettuccine Alfredo, and an oddly compelling pizza topped with chicken, bananas and hearts of palm. 10717 Venice Blvd., West L.A., (310) 841-6525.

Italian-American:

Bay Cities

C&O

Canetti’s

Casa Bianca

Luigi’s

Miceli’s

Eastside Market

Mario’s

San Antonio

Petrillo’s

Domenico’s

Colombo’s

Italian food of many lands:

Mercado Buenos Aires: Argentine

Nyala: Ethiopian

Savoy: Chinese

Capperi: Japanese

Spoon House: Japanese-Italian-American

El Caserio: Ecuadorian

Zumumba: Brazilian

Thaitalian: Thai

Sceny Neo-Tuscan:

Ago

Bella

Bridge

Briganti

Dolce

E. Baldi

La Buca

Sor Tino

Pizzicotto

Palmeri

Toscana

Mi Piace

Crescendo at Fred Segal

Neo-Retro:

Dominick’s

Vittorio

Matteo’s

Amalfi

Luxe:

Peppone

Capo

Celestino

Zucca

Il Cielo

Il Sole

Wine bars:

Enoteca Drago

Sopra

La Maschera

Other:

Spark

Il Grano

Locanda Veneto

Pecorino

Bulgarini

Il Gelato

Best Italian

Angeli Caffe, 7274 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 936-9086 or www.angelicaffe.com. Lunch Tues.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner Sun., Tues.–Thurs. 5–10 p.m. & Fri.–Sat. 5–11 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

Angelini Osteria, 7313 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 297-0070 or angeliniosteria.com. Lunch Tues.–Fri. noon–2:30 p.m., dinner Tues.–Sun. 5:30–10:30 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Drago, 2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 828-1585 or celestinodrago.com. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., dinner daily 5:30–11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Il Moro, 11400 W. Olympic Blvd., W.L.A., (310) 575-3530 or ilmoro.com. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., dinner Mon.–Thurs. 5–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 5–10:30 p.m., Sun. 4:30–9:30 p.m. (pizza till mid.). Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$

La Terza, 8384 W. Third St., L.A., (323) 782-8384 or laterzarestaurant.com. Daily 7 a.m.–2:30 p.m. & 5:30–11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

Madeo, 8897 Beverly Blvd., W. Hlywd., (310) 859-4903. Lunch Mon.–Fri. noon–3 p.m., dinner daily 6–11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Mozza, 641 N. Highland Ave., L.A., (323) 297-0101 or mozza-la.com. Daily noon–mid. Beer, wine. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

Tre Venezie, 119 W. Green St., Pasadena, (626) 795-4455. Lunch Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Tues.–Sun. 5:30–10:30 p.m. Full bar. AE, M, V. $$

Valentino, 3115 W. Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 829-4313 or valentinosm.com. Daily 5–11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Vincenti Ristorante, (310) 207-0127 or vincentiristorante.com. Lunch Fri. noon–2 p.m., dinner Mon.–Sat. 6–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Italian-American:

Bay Cities, 1517 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-8279 or baycitiesitaliandeli.com. Tues.–Sun. 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Full bar. Parking lot. M, V. $

C&O Trattoria, 31 Washington Blvd., Marina del Rey, (310) 823-9491 or cotrattoria.com. Mon.–Thurs. 9 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m.–11 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.–10 p.m. Beer, wine. Street parking. AE, M, V. $

Canetti’s, 309 E. 22nd St., San Pedro, (310) 831-4036. Daily 6 a.m.–2 p.m. (till 5 p.m. Fri.) Beer, wine. Parking lot. M, V. $

Casa Bianca, 1650 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, (323) 256-9617 or casabiancapizza.com. Tues.–Thurs. 4–mid., Fri.–Sat. 4 p.m.–1 a.m. Beer, wine. Street parking. Cash only. $

Colombo’s, 1833 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, (323) 254-9138 or colomborestaurant.net. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–2 p.m., dinner Mon.–Sat. 8 p.m.–mid. (till 11 p.m. Thurs.), Sun. 5–9 p.m. Full bar. Lot parking. All major CC. $

Domenico’s 2411 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 797-6459. Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Full bar. Lot parking. All major credit card. $

Eastside Market 1013 Alpine St., L.A., (213) 250-2464 or esmdeli.com. Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–4 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.–2 p.m. Beer, wine. All major CC. $

Luigi’s 725 E. 19th St., Bakersfield (661) 322-0926 or shopluigis.com. Tues.–Sat. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Full bar. Street parking. All major CC. $

Maddalena Restaurant, San Antonio Winery, 727 Lamar St., L.A., (323) 223-1401 or sanantoniowinery.com. Sun.–Wed. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Thurs.–Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Wine. Parking lot. All major CC. $$

Mama Petrillo’s 9082 Las Tunas Dr., Temple City (626) 285-0228 or mamapetrillos.com. Mon.–Thurs. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. & 4–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 4–11 p.m. Beer. Parking lot. M, V. $$

Mario’s 740 E. Broadway, Glendale, (818) 242-4114 or mariosdeli.com. Mon.–Fri. 8:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Sat. 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m. Beer, wine. Parking lot. All major CC. $

Miceli’s 1646 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hlywd., (323) 466-3438 or micelisrestaurant.com. GET TIMES. Full bar. Parking lot. All major CC. $

Zelo Gourmet Pizzeria, 328 E. Foothill Blvd., Arcadia, (626) 358-8298. Wed.–Sun. 3–9 p.m. Beer, wine. Street parking. AE, M, V. $

Italian food of many lands:

Capperi: Japanese

El Caserio, 309 N. Virgil Ave., L.A., (323) 664-9266. Daily 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. (Fri.–Sat. till 10 p.m.). Beer, wine. Parking lot. All major CC. Ecuadoran. $

Mercado Buenos Aires, 7542 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 786-0522. Sun.-Fri. 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Beer, wine. Street parking? AE, MC, V. $

Nyala 1076 S. Fairfax Ave., L.A., (323) 936-5918 or nyala-la.com. Daily 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Full bar. Street parking. All major CC. $

Savoy: Chinese

Spoon House: Japanese-Italian-American

Thaitalian: Thai

Zabumba 10717 Venice Blvd., W.L.A., (310) 841-6525. Thurs.–Sun. 6–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 7–10 p.m. Full bar. Street parking. CREDIT CARDS?

Sceny Neo-Tuscan:

Ago 8478 Melrose Ave., W. Hlywd., (323) 655-6333 or agorestaurant.com. Mon.–Fri. noon–2:30 p.m. & 6–11:30 p.m., Sat. 6–11:30 p.m., Sun. 6 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$$

Bella Cucina Italiana 1708 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hlywd., (323) 468-8815 or www.bellahollywood.com. ADD HOURS. Alcohol? Street parking? CC? $$

Bridge 755 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A., (310) 659-3535 or www.bridgela.com. Tues. 6–10 p.m., Wed.–Sat. 6–11 p.m. (bar open until 1 a.m.). Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$$

Briganti 1423 Mission St., S. Pasadena, (PHONE???) or brigantirestaurant.com. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner nightly beginning at 5:30 p.m. (5 p.m. Sun.). Full bar. Parking lot. AE, M, V. $$

Crescendo at Fred Segal (Santa Monica)

Dolce Enoteca 8284 Melrose Ave., L.A., (310) 852-7174 or dolceenoteca.com. Dinner daily beginning at 6 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

E. Baldi 375 N. Cañon Dr., Beverly Hills (310) 248-2633. Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. & 6–10 p.m., Sat. 6–10 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$

Il Fornaio 301 N. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 550-8330. Mon.–Fri. 6:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 7:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Beer, wine. Parking lot. All major CC. $$ Also get Pasadena address.

La Buca 5210 1/2 Melrose Ave., Hlywd., (323) 462-1900 or labuca.net. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner Mon.–Fri. 5–10:30 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 5–10 p.m. Beer, wine. Street parking. All major CC. $$

Mi Piace 25 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 795-3131 or mipiace.com. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus late lounge hours. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $

Palmeri (Brentwood)

Pizzicotto 11758 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood (310) 442-7188. Mon.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun. 3–9:30 p.m. Beer, wine. Street parking. All major CC. $$

Sor Tino 908 S. Barrington Ave., Brentwood (310) 442-8466. Daily 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Beer, wine. Parking lot. AE, M, V. $$$

Toscana 11633 San Vicente, Brentwood (310) 820-2448. Mon.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. & 5:30–11 p.m., Sun. 5–10 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. All major CC. $$$

Neo-Retro:

Amalfi

Dominick’s 8715 Beverly Blvd., W. Hlywd., (310) 652-2335 or dominicksrestaurant.com. Sun.–Thurs. 6 p.m.–mid., Fri.–Sat. 6 p.m.–1 a.m. Beer, wine. Parking lot. AE, M, V. $$

Matteo’s 2321 Westwood Bvd., Wstwd., (310) 475-4521 or matteosla.com. Tues.–Sat. 5–10:30 p.m., Sun. 5–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$$

Vittorio 16646 Marquez Ave., Pacific Palisades (310) 459-3755. Tues.–Sun. 4–10 p.m. Beer, wine. AE, M, V. $

Luxe:

Capo 1810 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 394-5550. Tues.–Sat. 6 p.m.-mid. Full bar. Valet parking. All major credit cards. $$$

Celestino 141 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena (626) 795-4006 or celestinopasadena.com. Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5:30–10 p.m., Sat. 5:30–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$

Il Cielo 9018 Burton Way, Bevelry Hills (310) 276-9990 or ilcielo.com. Mon.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. & 5–11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$

Il Sole 8741 Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd., (310) 657-1182. Lunch Mon.–Fri. noon–2:30 p.m., dinner Sun.–Thurs. 6–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 6–11 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. All major CC. $$$

Peppone

Zucca 801 S. Figueroa St., dwntwn., (213) 614-7800 or patinagroup.com/zuccaristorante. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner Mon.–Sat. 5–9 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 5–10 p.m. Full bar. Parking lot. All major CC. $$

Wine bars:

Enoteca Drago 410 N. Cañon Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 786-8236 or celestinodrago.com. Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

La Maschera 82 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, (626) 304-0004 or lamascherarestaurant.com. Daily 12:30 p.m.–12:30 a.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. V. $$

Sopra 8840 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (310) 492-0880 or soprala.com. Mon.–Sat. 5:30–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

Other:

Bulgarini

Gelato Bar 4342 1?2 Tujunga Ave., Studio City, 818 487 1717 or gelatobar-la.com. Mon.–Thurs. 7:30 –10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 7:30 –11 p.m., Sun. 9 –10 p.m. AE, M, V. $

Il Grano 11359 Santa Monica Blvd., W.L.A., (310) 477-7886. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., dinner Mon.–Sat. 6–10 p.m. Full bar. Street parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Locanda Veneta, 8638 W. Third St., L.A., (310) 274-1893 or locandaveneta.com. Mon.–Thurs. 5:30–10:30 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 5:30–11 p.m., Sun. 5–10 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. AE, M, V. $$$

Pecorino 11604 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood (310) 571-3800 or restaurant.com/pecorino. Mon.–Fri. 11:30–2:30 p.m. & 5:30–10:30 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 5:30–11 p.m., Sun. 5–9 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. All major CC. $$

Spark Woodfire Cooking 11801 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 623-8882 or sparkwoodfiregrill.com. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., dinner daily 5–10 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, M, V. Add West L.A. address.

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