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Best Regional Italian Cuisine In Los Angeles

pasta 610 header
(credit: Shutterstock)

Los Angeles is home to some of the best restaurants in the world. This includes Italian restaurants of course. Whether you favor northern Italian cuisine, Southern, or all of it, we have the best restaurants in town hand selected for you.

Venice
Mr. C Beverly Hills Restaurant with Waiter
(credit: Mr. C Beverly Hills)

The Restaurant at Mr. C
1224 Beverwil Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 226-6245
www.mrchotels.com

Located in the Venetian-inspired hotel Mr. C Beverly Hills by Ignazio and Maggio Ciprianil, this restaurant serves some of the most authentic Venetian cuisine around. Using heavy seafood elements, influenced by renowned Cipriani restaurants worldwide, the dishes combine classic old-world simplicity along with luxurious European details. Set within the airy and inviting restaurant, it is is an ideal place to enjoy a truly authentic Venetian meal outside of the European continent. Executive Chef Giuseppe Manco, who's worked with the family for over a decade, maintains the restaurant's Venetian focus by constructing his menu around historic seafood staples, including items like their Grilled Branzino served with peperonata, Venetian Tramezzini (Italian tea sandwiches), a Homemade Lightly Baked White Tagliolini with ham, Crudo alla Veneziana and much more.

Tuscany
rsz_patio_cecconis
(credit: Cecconi's)

Cecconis
8764 Melrose Ave
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 432-2000
www.cecconiswesthollywood.com

Cecconis in West Hollywood is a Los Angeles institution that serves incredible handmade pasta and other great dishes from the Italy's Tuscany region. Tuscan food is traditionally rustic and pasta-focused that could be described as the original "farm to table," since the region is well known for sourcing all of its produce and meats locally. Highlight diehses here include their Farro Orecchiette with cime di rapa, and pecorino, a Tortelli with butternut squash, butter, and sage and their Agnolotti del Plin with black truffle 'pregiato'.

Umbria
alimento
(credit: DYLAN+JENI)

Alimento
1710 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 928-2888
www.alimentola.com

Silverlake's Alimento restaurant is the perfect place for those that love traditional Italian fare from Umbria, a central region in Italy well known for its dense forests. Umbrian cuisine is usually reliant on the Umbrian landscape and the influence behind most of the dishes turns to items like wild boar, game meat, and edible fungi like mushrooms and truffles. Some of their best dishes include their Gnòc with oxtail, marrow, and potato, a Spelt Maccheroncini with wild mushrooms, cavolo nero, and egg and a Prime Ribeye Tagliata with potato fonduta and roasted mushrooms.

Northern Italy
Maccheroni Republic
(credit: Maggie C./Yelp)

Maccheroni Republic
332 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 346-9725
www.maccheronirepublic.com

Downtown Los Angeles' Maccheroni Republic also serves fresh handmade pasta but with a Northern Italian flair. Northern Italian cuisine is in many ways the most distinctive compared to the other Italian regions, as it has been very much influenced by the Austro-Hungarian region to the North of Italy (strudels in Northern Italy are not uncommon). Best dishes here include their Lasagna Di Carne, with traditional Emilian lasagna with meat ragout & cheese, as well as their Agnolotti Di Osso Bucco, a tortelloni filled with osso bucco meat & marrow in a salsa verde.

Sicily
Valentino Sicilian Style Crudo - Valentino
(Credit: Valentino)

Valentino
3115 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310)829.4313.
www.valentinosantamonica.com

Santa Monica's famed Italian restaurant offers delicious Sicilian cuisine from Italy's Southern-most tip, In Sicily, they have similar neighboring influences just like Northern Italian cuisine. But, in this case, the influence is Arabic, which results in unique and distinctive flavoring that contrast between sweet and salty. Great dishes include their stuffed rabbit with a hint of chocolate as well as their Veal Piccata, with Sicilian capers and zucchini.

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