Are you ever torn over which restaurant to go to? I know, there are more important things to focus on, but deciding on a dinner place last Thursday was a main priority. I debated between Eva, Sotto, and Huckleberry. I saw an ad for Huckleberry Cafe doing a Thursday night prix-fixe menu for $30. Eva has its Sunday family dinners with unlimited wine, but that doesn’t help for Thursday. Then there is Sotto, a place I had been to last December and a spot I longed to return to. There’s something about the atmosphere: casual, elegant, and neighborly all in one.
Price was a key factor, and I went with a VISA gift card in hand, for what I thought was $25. I figured the amount would cover food and I would pay for a glass of wine out of pocket. I went thinking pasta, but ordered two small- to medium-sized plates instead — the mackerel with buckwheat and cauliflower in an oven-dried pesto sauce and a tomato-based soup filled with tender clams, sausage pieces, spinach and pigeon peas with a big slab of the restaurant’s homemade bread. The edges of the bread were singed black as if the bread had just been pulled out of the wood-fired oven. You can see chefs Steve Samson Zach Pollack and crew in the open kitchen working to churn out seriously good food. The mackerel was phenomenal — moist with the skin left on. The buckwheat had the texture of Rice Krispies, which is a good thing. It was an ideal contrast to the soft fish and cauliflower.
A slice of homemade bread rests in the meaty tomato broth of the ‘spicy clams in guazzetto’ at Sotto in Los Angeles.
The soup was very hearty. It tasted meaty if a bit too salty. But the clams were so tender, as was the bread with its soft interior. I could eat a big plate of the bread with some ricotta and be a happy man.
The two entrees equaled $28, so I ended up spending $8 more on food than I wanted. The waitress charged $20 to the card, leaving me with $22 to cover the rest. I’m glad the soup and bread were a substantial portion. The cannoli rocks at Sotto, but I decided to forgo dessert at the restaurant. All in all, it was a memorable night. Now I can look forward to a trip to Eva.
Oh, and Sotto has a deal worth checking out. Every Tuesday through Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the bar, a pizza and cocktail cost $19. Cocktails go for $12 on their own and the least-expensive pie on the menu is $9 by itself.
Sotto
9575 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 277-0210
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