48 Hours and 12 Restaurants with Madison

This past month I ventured south to LA for a weekend filled with food, fun, and friends, but let’s be honest, I was really there for the food. In 48 hours we ate at 12 restaurants: Lodge Bread Co., Felix, Rossoblu, Cosa Buona, Chi Spacca, Kismet, Top Round, Petit Trois, Rustic Canyon, Destroyer, and Din Tai Fung. 

Although all of the meals were delicious, our favorite meal was at the recently opened hotspot, Felix by Chef Evan Funke. The restaurant, located in the heart of Venice on Abbot Kinney, is inspired by the culinary traditions of Italy with a California influence, it is also one of the most beautiful restaurants I have seen this year. Walking in you immediately feel like you’re in someone’s house, but in the most amazing way possible. Each room has a unique décor with the piece pièce de résistance being the pasta laboratory in the center of the dining room. Servers were attentive and knowledgable but that did not make the decisions on what to order that much easier, everything on the menu looked delicious, including the beverages! 

Felix not only has a great wine program but also a great cocktail program. We tried both the Roof Garden with blanc vermouth, cucumber and ginger, and the Hey Nineteen with tequila and pisco, pineapple, and limoncello. Both cocktails were light and refreshing, perfect for the summer heat wave LA was experience at the time we were there. After cocktails we ordered a bottle of lighter red to enjoy with the rest of our meal. 

The meal started with Felix’s infamous Sfincione, focaccia siciliana with sea salt and rosemary. Many of our friends had been to Felix and this was one of the most talked about dishes, light and fluffy, one order would not be enough. We ordered two antipasti, the Fiori di Zucca, squash blossoms, fior di latte and green garlic and the Carciofi alla Giudia, fried artichokes with lemon and mint. Next came the really hard decisions, which pastas should we order and how many was too many? The pastas are broken down into four regions: Nord, Centro, Mezzogiorno, and Isole. Although we really wanted to get one from each region we were were won over by the North and Center, ordering two from each. From Le Paste Del Nord we ordered the Pappardelle with ragu bolognese “vecchia scuola”, and parmigiana reggiano and the Trofie with pesto Genovese and pecorino stagionato. From Le Paste Del Centro we ordered the Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe and the Rigatoni All ‘Amatriciana’. And last but not least, my personal favorite was the Orecchiette with rapini, bagnetto di alici, wild ramps, and pecorino pugliese from Le Paste Del Mezzogiorno. 

After all the pasta we were unfortunately too full for dessert (oh, plus we had three more meals to go that evening)! If you’re in LA I would definitely recommend checking out Felix. A reservation is highly recommended and if you can’t get one then I suggest you get there before doors open, you’ll feel like you’re right at home!