 While it may take a few tries to coax the name---“la BOH-tay,” Italian for “the wine barrel”---to roll off your tongue with a suave lilt, you’ll easily appreciate the kitchen’s refined touch. La Botte specializes in the intriguing cuisine from the far northern reaches of Italy, near the Austrian border. Prices may seem high for a cozy neighborhood restaurant, but one taste and you’ll find those dollar signs reflected in the intensity of flavor yielded by fine ingredients. To start, traditional items like prosciutto with burrata cheese and a drizzle of olive oil are joined by less familiar creations, like a carpaccio of sea bass wrapped around sea urchin, sliced paper thin and served with lemon, olive oil and cracked pepper. Pastas include a homemade beet variety with quail over a Parmesan fondue, filet mignon ravioli in butter-sage sauce and the traditional regional dish of cassunziei: beet-stuffed pasta with brown butter, Parmesan and poppy seeds. Watch for unusual risottos, like porcini mushrooms and fresh blueberries or figs. Among the entrées, we like such robust choices as the house-made wild boar sausage, delicate branzino, filet mignon, and the Colorado loin of lamb. For dessert, go for such favorites as tiramisu or a light-as-air chocolate-hazelnut mousse. What the predominantly Italian wine list lacks in creativity, it makes up for in volume, with page after page of top labels. Our only reservation is our experience with slightly surly service.
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La Botte Ristorante Restaurant is one of our 2012
| Top 10 LA Italian Restaurants
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