My friend and I arrived on Tuesday night at 7 and while there were others dining there, the restaurant is so large that we were seated immediately. Unlike some restaurants that try to draw in business by placing customers in the windows, this restaurant put most of its diners in the comfortable and warm back area where they couldn't be seen from the street. We opted for water to drink, but there is a large wine list if you are so inclined and they have other alcohol as well. It occurs to me that the front of the room might house a bar which would clarify why everyone was sitting in the back. The atmosphere is dark and warm with cushioned benches around the edge of the room dotted with pillows. Beware, the bench is significantly lower than the chairs, so, if you are the shortest member in your party I recommend the chairs.
While we perused the menu, the waiter brought us a basket of warm bread. The bread dip was an oily roasted red pepper dip. It had a small spoon with it so i thought I'd spoon some on my plate. In the end, I ate the bread alone because the dip didn't taste like much to me.
I ordered the beef carpaccio to start off. Beef carpaccio is my favorite Italian dish ever, and I order it whenever I see it on the menu. This beef carpaccio could have used a little salt or pepper (but this is the kind of restaurant where they do not have salt or pepper on the table) or maybe a little oil. However, the capers and the cheese gave it a very interesting flavor--it was only a little dry.
Our main courses came. My friend ordered the Mushroom Risotto. While I don't usually like risotto or mushrooms, I found this dish to be quite delicious. I was a little jealous actually. She was going on and on about how delicious truffle oil is, and it is true, it really rounds out the dish. I ordered the pumpkin ravioli with braised short rib. The short rib sat in the middle of a surprisingly large plate of ravioli. The meat was succulent and moist and just fell in fork fulls onto my plate. The marscapone sauce was very creamy and I didn't feel it matched the flavor of the meat. However, it did match the ravioli. The ravioli seemed to be handmade although since they didn't advertise it as so, it may not have been. The pumpkin had just the right sweetness that merged with the marscapone. While my dish wasn't as delicious as the risotto, it gave me a feeling of great Italian food and I would certainly go back but probably for something else.
After our main courses the waitress craftily dropped the dessert and coffee menu on our table. While I don't usually opt for dessert, it sounded like it might be delicious and we wanted to stay and chat a little longer. I ordered the tiramisu and my friend got the chocolate mousse.
The tiramisu was a large square with chocolate drizzled on the sides and the top. The drizzled chocolate tasted like Hershey's to me. The tiramisu was delicious except drenched in alcohol to the point where I could taste more alcohol than coffee or chocolate or anything else. Perhaps this is the way the dish is supposed to be prepared, but it wasn't my favorite--although I did eat the entire thing. The chocolate mousse was totally different than anything I have ever had mousse-wise. It was a very dense mousse that looked more like a couple scoops of gelato. It was incredibly rich and served with blueberries. The mousse reminded me of the texture of flourless chocolate cake. My friend could barely eat more than the first scoop. She asked for it to go, and it was obvious the waiter didn't know how to make this to go. He was able to crush it down into a very small condiment container in the end.
The meal was rather expensive, but we did order several courses and my friend ordered some grilled vegetables to take home. The atmosphere was comfortable and the service friendly. If you need a fancy Italian restaurant to visit, I recommend trying out Amalfi next time.
Amalfi Ristorante & Bar
143 North La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036
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