Angelini Osteria Review — It's All About The Texture Baby

It’s All About The Texture Baby:
Review of Angelini Osteria

By Abeni Tinubu

Angelini Osteria is a super small Italian restaurant in WeHo (7313 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles) with indoor and outdoor seating. Though the plastic covering the entire outdoor section isn’t my favorite, it’s certainly something you see in Italy. The inside was nicer and much more modern, boasting hard wood floors and shelves of fine wines. Half of the restaurant featured an exposed brick wall, which I’m finding is pretty typical of trendy, L.A., restaurants.

The restaurant came across as very authentic Italian, from the Italian waiters to what can only be described as Italian rap music that was playing in the bathroom. We were seated immediately, and give a basket of flatbread and antipasti. The bread (which was topped with oregano and drizzled with olive oil) was unique with texture that was reminiscent of something in between fried and baked. Personally, I felt that the bread was a bit bitter, but the antipasto was a nice topper that gave it some much-needed balance.

As I’m trying to expand my palate, I was on board for whatever and we ended up ordering zucchini flowers, a caprese salad, and a pizza with marinara, anchovies, and olives for appetizers. Now this is when I started getting impressed, because the texture of everything (from the bread on down to my last bite of dessert) was absolutely perfect. Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the taste of certain things (due to my own particular taste biases) there’s something to be said for a restaurant that cooks everything to perfection.

The caprese was extremely fresh and the mozzarella was smooth and soft. The pizza wasn’t my favorite as the anchovies made it way too salty, but the marinara sauce on the pizza was delicate and had just enough sweetness to cut through some of the saltiness. But, the real star of the appetizers was the zucchini flower, which was truly astounding. Biting into it provided me with the perfect amount of crunch and the inside was creamy without being too rich. It was so delicious that I actually felt like googling “are zucchini vegetables” because I refused to believe that a veggie could make bring me to food orgasm right at the table.

We ordered a bottle of Chianti for the table, which the Italian waiter declared was the best Chianti in Italy. I’ll admit it was wonderfully smooth and full bodied with a nice flavorful and bitter aftertaste that complimented a lot of our food, but I’ve had better Chianti that was much less expensive. For my entree, I went with the lobster tagliolini at the recommendation of the waiter, and I was not disappointed.

The noodles were a fantastic texture and cooked al dente. The lobster was fresh and flavorful and the peas gave the dish and wonderful balance and were perfectly firm (there are few things I hate more than mushy peas; last time I checked I graduated from baby food decades ago.) The cherry tomatoes were ripe and just really gave additional body to the fantastic dish. Other dishes ordered by my dining companions were the grilled swordfish, whole branzino (the presentation for which was impeccable) and the duck breast (which looked phenomenal.) The most devastating part of my evening was when my friend offered some of his duck breast to me and I had to turn him down because I’m doing a pescatarian month (I know, shoot me) but he assured me it was delicious.

Devastating, by the time dessert was being ordered, my stomach had reached its breaking point and I couldn’t bring myself to order anything else. Fortunately for me though, my friends were very gracious and allowed me bites of their dessert so I got to try the tiramisu and the fresh fruit platter. The tiramisu was good, but I wasn’t blown away. The dark chocolate was just too overpowering to allow it to be anything more than good. I much preferred the fruit plate, which was light and featured fruits that were all in season. The vanilla bean ice cream was a perfect compliment to the slight acidity of some of the fruit; definitely a winner in my book. Overall, it was a lovely evening and I felt perfectly sated and more than ready for my much-needed slumber that immediately followed dinner.