Koreatown is a great place to live, culinarily speaking. We've got hundreds of Korean choices, dozens of Central American restaurants, a good handful of Oaxacan spots, and we're just a short jaunt from Thaitown and Little Armenia. What we don't have, though, is great Italian. There's La Buca a bit to the north, but it's gotten pretty expensive since the old days when it was a cramped, hole in the wall. Now, I'm happy to report, we have another choice.
All'Angolo Pizza and Pasta is a small restaurant squeezed into a Third Street strip mall between a Baskin Robbins and a liquor store (no dusties, I checked).
Despite its primacy in the name, ignore the pizza, it's served on a soft, sort of pita bread like crust that's not at all crispy. The thing to get here is the pasta.
The pasta at All'Angolo is all made to order, fresh, perfectly cook and tastes handmade (I don't know if they actually make it in-house or not); I've tried a variety since the spot opened last fall, and they've all been great. The highlight for me is the strozzapreti alla trentina (pictured above). Strozzapreti is a short, twisted pasta; it's served in a cream sauce with prosciutto and radicchio. The combination of the meat, the slightly bitter lettuce and the cream in every bite of toothsome, hand rolled pasta is one of those perfectly balanced bites.
I also enjoyed the special of tortellini with sage and butter sauce which featured a rich, ground veal stuffing (pictured above). Even the spaghetti with meatballs, which I order for my daughter is impressive, featuring a somewhat thicker than usual spaghetti, cooked to a perfect al dente, and a rich, tomato-cream sauce...it's all I can do not to eat it right off of her plate.
Desserts are also quite good. The panna cotta was silky smooth without being overly gelatinous and the custard tart, infused with just a touch of booze (maybe marsala) is rich and creamy.
I love my neighborhood's great Asian and Latin American options, but now Koreatown has great pasta too!
All'Angolo Pizza and Pasta
4050 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020
(213) 368-7888
2 comments:
Sku, with all your enthusiasm, I think you must like Italian more than a nice dram of Pappy 15:). Regardless, thanks for the tip about a new place to try whilst in LA. (BTW, I'm in the hinterland of Long Beach).
I'm totally looking for that tortellini special which wasn't on the board during the last visit.
Have seen them make their raviolis on the spot, so those are definitely in-house. Has to be better than the milanesa special.
The chickie really enjoyed the spaghetti meatballs as well. The tomato/cream sauce was a bit of a surprise. And to think: nearly all the pasta dishes are ~$10!
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