Dinner at Bestia (Los Angeles)

After the final class of our four-week wine course, we decided that we needed to try one more restaurant in Downtown L.A., since we would no longer be coming down to the area on a weekly basis.  Therefore, the place we chose is Bestia, a fairly new, very popular, Italian restaurant in the Arts District of Downtown L.A.  Bestia is located off the beaten path, in an industrial area of downtown, amongst a slew of converted warehouses.  The exterior of Bestia is unassuming, with a corrugated metal facade, with the name of the restaurant displayed in faded paint above the entrance.  The other portion of the building is exposed brick and ivy, with a metal overhang covering the patio.  The style is very urban and industrial, which seems to be the "in thing" for new restaurants in L.A. nowadays.



As I had read quite a few rave reviews of Bestia, and we knew it was one of the places we wanted to try, I called and made our reservations three weeks in advance. I was able to get a dinner reservation at 6:00 p.m., which is right when the restaurant opens.  We received a telephone call confirming our reservation a few days prior, and the hostess on the phone sternly advised me that we "must be on time."  With that kind of warning, we made sure to arrive about 10 minutes early, and there was already a line of people waiting in front for the doors to open. 

The doors opened promptly at 6:00, and we were led inside and seated very promptly.  As we were entering, we heard a couple walk up to the hostess and she asked them if they had a reservation. The couple said no.  The hostess apologized, but advised the couple that they were booked up for the entire night and not accepting any walk-ins. The couple left in defeat.

As you walk in the door of Bestia, the large charcuterie bar is the first thing you see.  To the left is the actual bar, and to the right is the dining room.  The dining room has a lot of small, two-person tables, a handful of booths, one tall, communal table, and some seating around the charcuterie bar.  Behind the charcuterie bar, there is a refrigerator, with a glass window displaying various types of cured meat hanging inside.  There is also an open kitchen so guests can watch all of the action.  The kitchen has a large, wood burning pizza oven.  The light fixtures are very industrial, as are the metal chairs, which were not particularly comfortable.  Due to the mixture of concrete, metal, and brick inside, it was also quite loud, so not a place you want to come for a quiet, intimate dinner.

As we came in, we did hear that you do not need a reservation to sit at the bar, and as such, it was jam-packed the entire time we were there. You can see that it was quite a crowd, even on a Sunday night!

The young head chef at Bestia is Ori Menashe.  Chef Menashe is actually Israeli, not Italian, however, he is a veteran of such L.A. favorites as Pizzeria Mozza and Angelini Osteria.  Chef Menashe was actually there on the night we were there, and I watched him leading the kitchen and working feverishly the entire time.  Occasionally, he came out from behind the counter to talk to some guests, but we never had a chance to speak with him.  However, as we were leaving, I wanted to take a photo of him to post.  He saw me pointing my phone in his direction, and stopped what he was doing to give me a quick smile.  That's him on the right.

A couple of things really struck me about Chef Menashe.  First, he looks quite young for having worked in so many great restaurants around L.A., and already having one of his very own; and second, he looked just like all of the other cooks in the kitchen, with his T-shirt and grey headband.  There was no pretentious, embroidered, white chef jacket, pointing out to the world that he was the head chef.  In today's world of "celebrity" chefs, I thought it was pretty cool that he was just one of the guys, and appeared quite happy to be working on the line in the kitchen.

First, we were presented with the cocktail list.  The cocktails were quite unique and interesting, and I decided to try a "Beam me up, Scotty", even though I wasn't sure what most of the ingredients were.

My cocktail arrived shortly thereafter, and was very tasty.

We decided we wanted a bottle of wine to share with dinner. We were surprised that they did not have  a very extensive wine list, particularly in regards to Italian wines, especially for a place that touts itself as both an Italian pasta and meat specialty restaurant. As we planned to order some spicy, cured meats and pasta, we would generally look for a nice, big Sangiovese wine, or else a Super Tuscan, which is a Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blend.  A Barolo or Barbaresco from Piedmont would have worked well for this type of meal.  There were only a few such available options on the wine list, which were all a bit too pricey,  so instead, we chose a bottle of Barbera to have with dinner.  Although the wine choice was a good one, we both said that we wished we would have had more choices of Italian wines with  a bigger punch to go with our meal.

As we began to peruse the menu, we knew we wanted the charcuterie, which was the chef's selection of house-cured meats.  We asked our server to bring our starter right away as we were deciding on the rest of our meal.  The menu was very rustic Italian, with numerous antipasti dishes, and then mostly pizzas and home-made pasta dishes as main courses.

The charcuterie board arrived quickly, with four types of house-cured meats, pickled vegetables, mostarda, and grilled bread.

The meats included two different types of salami, duck breast, and soppressata.  Each of the meats were delicious.  I particularly like the salami, and my husband really enjoyed the soppressata.  The meats were served with a bright green mustard, which our server explained obtained the color through the use of carrot tops. The mustard was quite different, as it had a very herbaceous quality, which I felt worked well with the different meats.  I also liked the pickled vegetables (carrots, beets, asparagus), as I thought the acid from the vinegar was a good balance to the fattiness of the meats.  However, the best part was probably the slices of crusty, grilled bread that came with the board.  The bread was grilled to perfection, and with a little mustard and a slice of meat, it was delicious.



As our second course,  we ordered the smoked mackerel crostino, with burrata cheese, tomato jam, and sea salt.  We saw this dish being delivered to many of the tables around us, and it looked so great we decided we had to try it.  Now, as a caveat, I have to admit that smoked fish is not a favorite of mine, however, that being said, we both thought that it had way too much fish, which overpowered  the other flavors of the burrata cheese and the tomato jam.  With all the smoked fish piled on top, along with the tomato jam, the entire dish was too sweet for my taste.  However, it was all a top another piece of the fantastic grilled bread, and after scraping a lot of the fish off the top, I found the dish to be much more palatable. 

For our main courses, I chose a pasta dish called Tagliatelle allo Zafferano, which was described as hand-cut saffron pasta, calabrian sausage ragu with cherry tomatoes and arugula. The pasta was home-made, and cooked to a perfect al dente.  The tomato sauce was full of lots of bite-sized pieces of spicy, house-made sausage, and coated the pasta quite well.  Both the sausage, as well as, the sauce had a good amount of spice, and I thought the dish had an excellent balance of flavors.  This pasta dish was definitely one of the highlights for me.

For his main course, my husband chose a classic Margherita pizza which was topped with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and sea salt.  Overall, I thought the pizza was quite good.  I found the sauce to be tangy and acidic.  The crust was crispy on the outside, yet chewy on the inside. There was mozzarella dotted throughout the top, but not quite enough cheese for my taste.

The pizza also came topped with whole basil leaves.  My husband really likes fresh basil on his pizza, however, we both would have liked it better if the basil leaves were chopped up smaller and sprinkled throughout the top of the pizza, rather than having whole basil leaves in just a couple of spots.  The bites with the basil had so much basil that it was a bit overpowering, and then the majority of the pizza had no basil at all.  In fact, my husband picked the basil leaves off the top, ripped them up into smaller bits and put a little on each slice.   


The pizza arrived at the table uncut, and then the server asks how many slices we wanted, and then used a pizza cutter to slice it up for us at the table. 

Chef Menashe's wife, Genevieve Gergis, is the pastry chef at Bestia.  She also has an excellent resume, having been pastry chef at some great places in L.A. We could also see her working away in the kitchen throughout our meal. 

For dessert, I chose the ricotta fritters with fresh strawberry jam, brown sugar gelato, and whipped cream.  The fritters tasted like more sophisticated, freshly fried donuts.  They were light and crispy, and had hints of lemon to balance out the richness of the ricotta.  Of the accompaniments, I mostly used the fresh whipped cream to lighten up the bite-sized morsels, but I tried a couple of dips into the home-made strawberry jam, which was also delicious.





My husband, who does not like any kind of fruit on his dessert, chose the only one without any type of fruit, which was the bittersweet chocolate budino tart, with salted caramel, cacao crust, olive oil and sea salt. The dessert was tasty, but it was very chocolately.  It had a chocolate crust, with chocolate filling, and a couple of bites of chocolate biscotti on the side, which made it all a little too chocolatey for me.  My husband said that he wished that they would have used more than just a "drizzle" of the salted caramel, and that they should have added something lighter to help balance out the richness of the chocolate.  Instead, he helped himself to some of my whipped cream and brown sugar gelato to help balance the intense chocolate of his dessert.


 Overall, I would say that we had a good experience at Bestia. The dishes we had were all quite solid, particularly, the charcuterie board and my pasta. In addition, we both felt that the service was excellent.  If you are looking for some great, home-made pasta and house-cured meats, and you have plans to be in the Downtown L.A. area before the theater at the Ahmanson, or a Lakers game at Staples Center, you should definitely give it a try.


Of note, it was only a week ago that I posted my review of Gjelina restaurant in Venice.  It turns out that our meals at both Gjelina and Bestia were quite similar.  If we had known exactly how similar, we probably would have tried a different place this week for dinner. However, since we scored a Sunday night reservation, we decided to go to Bestia anyway.  In addition, this gave us the perfect opportunity to compare similar dishes served at each restaurant side-by-side.  My general verdict was that the oven-fired pizza at Gjelina was better, based on the combination and balance of the toppings they used.  However, I think that I liked the charcuterie board better at Bestia.  Both restaurants are proof that great, rustic Italian restaurants are all the rage in L.A. these days.