Bestia

Los Angeles, CA (The Joy of Food) — To understand Bestia, you should look at the gnocchi al pomodoro, a dish with just a handful of ingredients. Their version comes closest to how you’d find it in Italy.

I would eat my weight in these little pillows of heaven if I could, the carby layer in a dish that’s all about elevating simple ingredients into a thing of beauty. Plated with cool house-made ricotta and finished with basil-infused oil, this is easily one of the best plates of pasta anywhere in the U.S. 

This same thing is listed on menus elsewhere in L.A. and beyond, but it’s not like this. Nothing speaks volumes about the differences more than the sauce: here it’s a sugo rather than a ragu. It’s light, it’s thin, it’s sweet, and it’s not bursting with the heaviness of a thousand things thrown into the pot. Sometimes, less really is more.

You’ll get to this Italian food wonderland by making a right or left turn into a back alleyway of converted warehouses, where the faded Bestia sign looks like something left over from another era. Inside, Bestia — Italian for ‘beast’ — plays the part with its ambiance of weapons on the walls and hanging meat-hook chandeliers. It’s industrial, it’s rustic, it’s modern, and it’s loud. All of the above also describes what they serve.

For some, this may be “Fear Factor” dining, a place where you’ll have to study the menu carefully to make sure you’re not ordering hearts or gizzards. If offal offends you, you might also want to be careful about where you sit. The restaurant’s cured meats hang in a glass-encased refrigerator for all to see.

More likely, you’ll come prepared for any number of pasta dishes, all fabulous and cooked slightly short of al dente, but you may find yourself swayed by the appetizers. The lobster crostino is a must-order, a butter poached lobster-covered toast topped with squid ink aioli, pickled chiles, and refreshing citrus. This is a plate overflowing with things you can never have too much of. 

The roasted marrow bone is a sight unto itself, a bone resting in a bed of chewy spinach gnocchetti. They add a touch of balsamic vinaigrette for a much-needed acidic note, and some fennel leaves a crisp feeling on the tongue.

The house-made ricotta cavatelli comes tossed with some of that cured meat hanging around the place and gets swaddled in earthy black truffles and umami-rich grana padano. This will be a bowl of comfort that you’ll be hard-pressed not to lick clean.

Chefs and co-owners are husband and wife team Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis. He helms the kitchen and she’s in charge of the pastry program. In other words, he’s savory and she’s sweet. Her signature desert is the bittersweet budino tart, a creamy, velvety filling inside of a chocolate crumb crust. It gets topped with shaved sea salt, as anyone in California would expect. The cracked aesthetic reminds me of Massimo Bottura’s Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart dessert.

Bestia is no longer the new kid in town, but it remains a beloved destination and one of the hardest reservations to nab. When a small fire temporarily closed Bestia in 2017, locals and faraway fans practically collapsed in grief. Plan your visit a few months in advance, unless you’re in the habit of eating dinner at 11:45 p.m. 

The menu has evolved slightly over the years but largely remains the same. For those who crave re-invention and something new every time, Bestia may not be for you, but creatures of habit can enjoy old fabulous favorites over and over again. 

In other words, they don’t fix what’s not broken, they just make sure it continues to be excellent.

Written by Joy

Thanks for reading. The Joy of Food blog celebrates eating well, traveling often, and living la dolce vita. San Diego, California is home base, but thoughts are from all over. Reviews and photos help to highlight wonderful (or not) food experiences from around the world.

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