Angelini Osteria is two different restaurants – a bustling, noisy place with great food at dinner and a more sedate, relaxed place with great food for lunch. It’s my favorite lunch spot in L.A. and has been since I was introduced to it by the late Los Angeles Times food writer David Shaw.
Angelini Osteria is in store-front space that could be a dry cleaner or insurance agency if it weren’t a restaurant. The tables are close together, as you would find in Europe. But the staff is friendly, helpful and efficient and the kitchen turns out miracles on plates.
Lunch lends itself to shared plates. No matter with whom I go to Angelini Osteria, we have been able to find three or four items to meet our mutual tastes from a very extensive and diverse menu.
For dinner, In two recent visits I had a beet and arugula salad that was tops, veal liver with mashed potatoes and asparagus, canolis filled with ricotta cheese, marinated baby artichokes, and halibut with tomatoes in olive oil. Jennifer swooned over her beef cheeks and loved her roasted sweet Italian sausage with canilli beans appetizer. A dinner companion had a wonderful veal and beef lasagna and a lunch partner had a terrific lobster risotto.
In a fickle restaurant town, Angelini Osteria has survived long enough to inspire confidence and after all these years it remains popular and busy.
