Plan on making several return trips to eat through the menu broken down by regions of Italy. Read more.
Inspired by the cuisine of Bologna, this is the place for long-simmered meat sauces that coat stunning iterations of housemade noodles. Read more.
Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi has been a Santa Monica staple for decades, in no small part thanks to the celebrity sightings that make it a tabloid favorite. Read more.
Silver Lake’s gem Alimento is known for many things (chicken liver, a fried chicken sandwich) but you’d be hard-pressed to find a single table foregoing their take on a traditional totellini en brodo. Read more.
The spaghetti rustichella with dungeness crab and cavatelli alla norcina with housemade pork sausage and black truffle are the blockbuster hits. Read more.
It’s a small space (though the menu may be even smaller) but that doesn’t stop Lavi and Uy from making big things happen with gnocchi and noodles. Read more.
Laden with black pepper, pancetta and egg yolk, this carb-heavy dish is enough to keep anyone full for a few days. Read more.
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s eponymous restaurant is like nostalgic red sauce joints with Fairfax flair. Read more.
Made fresh daily and turned out to waiting hordes nearly as fast, Knead & Co.’s pastas are the backbone of the long market stall, which is starting to run breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours now. Read more.
There is no better place in the South Bay to indulge in decadent bowls of pasta than Love & Salt. Read more.
Think of it has a much-upgraded Olive Garden, with favorites like pumpkin ravioli and thick Venetian bigoli della nonna with meaty sausage ragout. Read more.
Since opening on a tough stretch of Melrose more than a decade ago, Osteria La Buca has continued to shine. Read more.
There’s the tortellini, pappardelle with rabbit ragu, and the tagliatelle with oxtail, each a perfectly portioned example of high-quality ingredients turned out to make exquisite dinnertime favorites. Read more.
The pesto gnocchi or ravioli will make you swoon, while the tagliatelle bolognese would make a fine mid-week lunch. Read more.
It is hard to order at The Rose, thanks to chef Jason Neroni’s extensive menu of just about everything diners want to eat. Read more.
After digging into housemade pastas like rabbit lasagnette and a beautifully simple chitarra, it’s not hard to understand why. Read more.
Sotto stands out for pastas like squid ink mafaldine in a baby octopus ragu and rigatoni coated in silky chicken liver. Read more.
Order the tagliolini in canna a mare with clams, mussels, calamari, scallops and tiger shrimp in a buttery tomato sauce. Read more.
The star of the show at chef Angelo Auriana’s early Arts District entrant is the mandili, unbelievably supple pasta dressed with an airy almond basil pesto sauce. Read more.
Working seasonally rotating menus and focusing up on all things noodle, Kalman and his Union team are forging ahead as Pasadena’s best Italian restaurant, bar none. Read more.
Try the fusilli alla norma, made with fresh tomato, eggplant, and aged ricotta. Read more.