Every neighborhood needs someplace like this,” said S. Irene Virbila in the Los Angeles Times. When it opened five years ago, Osteria La Buca really was a “tiny buca, or ‘hole in the wall,’” in Hollywood. Since then it’s expanded, but remains intimate enough that, “on a rainy night, it’s cozy and comfortable” to sit at a table looking out onto Melrose Avenue.
Piedmont-born chef Alberto Lazzarino recently took over the kitchen, and in just a few months put his mark on the place. Lazzarino’s dishes are “so simple, he could probably cook everything on the menu blindfolded”—but every single item is prepared with precision and flair.
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