CAFFE DELFINI WINDOWS

Reminiscent of the bolognese my nonna used to craft every Sunday in the basement kitchen of her Chicago bungalow, Delfini’s classic red sauce is authentically pure Emilia-Romagna cuisine done right. The zinguini can be served under any one of Caffé Delfini’s distinct mother sauces, and here, the Pasta Bolognese-a hearty and complex tomato sauce made with lean veal-is king. Grilled calamariīut what keeps locals coming back to the traditional trattoria- despite the numerous Italian joints that have sprung up across town over the years-may surprise you: Going against the grain, the Pali staple is known for its zinguini, a pasta made from fresh zucchini, which Ercoli said almost always sells out. Hailing from Pomezia, a suburb of Rome, childhood friends Alessandro Ercoli and Gianpietro Silardi opened the restaurant in 1990 after the pair immigrated to California.Ĭombining their passion for food with hospitable personalities that come naturally to natives of the boot, the restaurateurs have brought their own slice of Italy right here to the Palisades. Speaking of smells: With regional offerings spanning from the rural Tuscan hillsides made famous for their meats and cheeses, to the Manila clams and bottarga of olive-soaked Sicily, Delfini’s open air kitchen plays culprit to the multitudinous mix of sensory delights wafting out to hungry dinner patrons, and offers an exclusive glimpse into the finely tuned machine that has been spooning out penne to plate for nearly three decades. The small, charming trattoria nestled on Santa Monica Canyon’s ever-so-quiet West Channel Road was alive and bustling with sonorous booms of conversation between the clinking of glasses and calls for more bread.įor me, a second-generation Italian American, Delfini’s roaring clientele only added to the restaurant’s outdated, although charmingly nostalgic, decor and robustly rich smells, making me right at home inside the restaurant’s lively dining room.

CAFFE DELFINI WINDOWS

The first thing I noticed when I arrived outside Caffé Delfini on an unusually warm December night in Pacific Palisades was the sound of affable chatter emanating from behind the hoary wooden windows that frame the restaurant’s old-world entryway.

Caffe delfini