Remember Fabio from Top Chef?
- Chef Fabio Viviani, “Top Chef Season 5 Fan Favorite,” with Sophie Gayot
If you watched the season 5 finale of Top Chef, held at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, and want to meet chef Fabio Viviani, the “Fan Favorite,” you will have to come to his restaurant Firenze Osteria in North Hollywood, California.
I headed there last week to discover a rather large restaurant with an open-air kitchen. I did not actually cook with him, but had a chance to try many of his dishes, as well as cocktails from his partner, mixologist Jacopo Falleni.
The evening was very relaxed, nothing fancy but pleasant, and we made Firenze Osteria our current Los Angeles restaurant of the week. The long list of martinis created by Falleni puts the restaurant on our Los Angeles Top 10 places for a drink; and the many executives from the nearby studios proved that it belonged on our Top 10 Power Lunch list.
You can click on each photo to enlarge to see the dishes from Firenze Osteria restaurant’s menu. All photos by Sophie Gayot.-
- Chef Fabio Viviani, “Top Chef Season 5 Fan Favorite,” with Sophie Gayot
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- Grilled branzino flavored with slices of lemon, olive oil and thyme
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- Fresh burrata on a grilled slice of bread topped with fried pancetta
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- Flourless chocolate cake
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- Grilled jumbo shrimp seasoned with a touch of Gorgonzola on a Parmesan polenta
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- Rack of lamb on a bed of mushrooms with a rosemary-sage-mustard sauce
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- Ravioli are filled with braised short ribs and accompanied with a cheese (Taleggio) sauce and a 25-year aged balsamic vinegar
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- Spinach and ricotta, light brown butter and sage sauce with shaved Parmesan
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- Cucumber martini
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- Grapefruit martini
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- Red bell pepper martini
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- Panna cotta
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