Alimento Menu

Alimento Restaurant Review:

Zach Pollack certainly has a way with pizza. The young chef first arrived on the scene by way of Orange County's Pizzeria Ortica, then solidified his L.A. presence at Sotto, the casual Italian taverna he helmed alongside Steve Samson. It’s all the more curious that at Alimento, Pollack's Silver Lake ode to regional Italian specialties, there are no sizzling pies in sight. Instead, he has chosen to tinker with lesser-known classics, like the normally wide, stuffed piadina that's reimagined here as two rectangles of spelt flour pastry with a hunk of mortadella, some stracchino cheese and pickled mustard seeds squeezed in between. The heaping bagna càuda is as rustic as dishes come, with hunks of roughly chopped, grilled vegetables scattered on a wooden plank, alongside a boiling mix of sardines, garlic and olive oil. When the cauldron is nearly spent, an egg is dispatched inside, making for a potent dipping sauce. Mains like whole snapper fall on the less flavorful side of Old World cooking, while the inventive tortellini en brodo stands as Pollack's pasta-fied ode to the soup dumpling. There’s also pasta like squid ink strozzapreti and radiatori with braised pork sugo. Don't expect the same level of ingenuity on the short dessert list; straightforward almond berry cakes and one of the better budinos in town can be had alongside simple lattes and espressos using Stumptown beans. The wine list is concentrated but creative, and guests are encouraged to linger inside the small, square space, where blond wood tables shine with evening light from the large glass windows up front.