A pizza master opens her first place in Berkeley
My Sicilian side can tend to dominate. That intense passion for the things I love, bordering on an obsessive impulse to research, study and dig deep, includes food. This was only fueled by homecooked pastas and sauces from my Italian mama and grandfather growing up on both coasts. Add in my crucial teen years in New Jersey after we moved across the...
Who needs Soho House? This Italian social club hidden in L.A. is an absolute delight
Lauren Veca was worried about the meatballs. The 62-year-old doula had insisted on making her mother’s recipe for the Garibaldina Society’s upcoming monthly pasta dinner, but now she was having second thoughts. “You’re having performance anxiety because of these meatballs,” said the club’s president, Nicole Infante, 48, a mother of two who never si...
If Pasta Is Your Love Language, You’ll Be In Heaven At La Parolaccia Osteria Italiana In Southern California
Don’t worry, if your love language is less “word of affirmation” and more “drenched in carbonara,” you are not alone. Food brings people together, feeds the soul (literally), and makes us happy. And if you are anything like me, it is that much better when the food happens to be hand-made traditional pasta, like it is at this Italian restaurant in L...
Frank Sinatra Favorite La Dolce Vita Returns
Behind the walls of the windowless Barman Building in Beverly Hills, La Dolce Vita—the legendary restaurant and Frank Sinatra-Sammy Davis Jr. hangout that opened in 1966 but closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic—is back. The front door, with its massive cheetah-shaped handle, swings ajar to reveal a luscious new dining room, and maître d’ Ch...
Two Pasta Queens’ Dreams Become Reality As They Open La Pastaia In Bay Park
La Pastaia, a Venetian-style Italian restaurant, has opened its doors in Bay Park. The restaurant is owned and operated by two women who moved to the United States from Sicily, Italy in their early 20s to chase their dream of opening their own Italian restaurant. The restaurant’s name, La Pastaia, means “The Pasta Lady.” La Pastaia is the brainchil...
Mona Lisa, A Masterpiece in Little Italy, SD
Are you looking for a great Italian sandwich? Interested in Amari or some good Italian wine? Pizza dough, house-made sauce, and pasta in all shapes and sizes, Mona Lisa Deli on India Street at Hawthorn in Little Italy has got it all. I have been a faithful customer for 25-plus years, and I am still trying to figure out what they don’t have. The Del...
SF's favorite pizza chef is debuting a massive pizza, bagel and beer festival this summer
San Francisco's favorite pizzaiolo, Tony Gemignani, is launching a new festival this summer, and it features all the hits: pizza, bagels and beer. The aptly named Pizza, Bagel & Beer Festival is slotted to take place on Aug. 19 in North Beach, with over 45 participating local pizzerias, bagel-makers and breweries. “For the last eight years, there’...
AnniVenti La Trattoria restaurant opens in Lemon Grove: three Brothers offer Authentic Italian Cuisine
AnniVenti La Trattoria(link is external), an Italian restaurant owned and operated by three brothers, is now open in Lemon Grove. The restaurant is named after their family's original restaurant located just 10 miles from Palermo in Italy, where the brothers grew up working. Emanuele Gagliano, one of the brothers, says, "It's been our lifelong drea...
San Francisco: salami capital of the US
In the sometimes snobbish, often ostentatious world of gourmet food, there are seared foie gras with rhubarb tart, hamachi with sea urchin vinaigrette, and kumamoto oysters with mango sorbet. And then there’s Italian salami. Italian salami? How does this processed meat with a gnarly chub, fermented tang, and winelike aroma belong in the élite comp...
Sicilian gelatiera opens new gelato spot in Mission
Cecilia Casarini still remembers the long line that formed outside Ilary Biondo’s gelato store in Sicily when the couple first met in the summer of 2021. “The line was from the door to two blocks away every single day,” Casarini, Biondo’s wife, recalled. “She was just doing everything, making the gelato, serving people.” Now, Biondo, 36, the Italia...
Esca Blu All-Day Italian Restaurant Unveils In San Diego's Hillcrest
The chef/owner behind San Diego's popular Cocina de Barrio Mexican restaurants has opened a new modern Italian concept in Hillcrest named Esca Blu. In November 2019, Chef Jose J. Flores teamed up with Swami's Cafe founder Jaime Osuna to open the first Cocina de Barrio restaurant in San Diego's Hillcrest community. In its nearly two year tenure, the...
Eataly Realizes Angelenos Love Nothing More Than a Good Coastal Italian Menu
Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the year-old Capri inside Eataly has decided it wants to stay. When Eataly first opened in 2017, the food emporium’s on-site dining area felt a bit like a food hall serving classics like pizza and pasta. Providence chef Michael Cimarusti had a seafood menu called Il Pesce Cucina while eventually, Terra ope...