The best ‘hole in the wall’ in Hollywood

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.

For a salad, try “the charred Romaine draped with julienned maplewood bacon so lean it tastes like ham.” My favorite pizza, the Ciccolina, combines “mozzar­ella with tomatoes, the sweet pork taste of pancetta, and a flur­ry­ of baby wild arugula.” But pasta is Lazzarino’s forte. “Just taste his ravioli con il fico, tender little packets stuffed with potato purée and a little dried fig.”

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5210 Melrose Ave., (323) 462-1900, Osterialabuca.com