During my many trips to L.A. for work, I’ve found that my dining options are limited to client or vendor meetings or, worse, room service with my laptop as my loyal dining companion. Occasionally, I do have the opportunity to branch out and act as a pseudo Angeleno and drink and eat like the locals do. First introduced to me by our resident California girl (and the V.F.C.S.D.’s entertainment and marketing consultant) Jennifer Parker, Osteria La Buca is a welcoming spot on an otherwise deserted block in mid-Wilshire (unless you count Paramount Studios). The large chalkboard that hangs in the main dining and bar area pays homage to that season’s locally sourced bounty: “We’re glad for summer peaches! Arugula is awesome!” The menu comprises great items for a group to share, which means when the V.F.C.S.D. tucked in at a table in the second-story dining room (making us feel as if we’d snuck into a cozy treehouse), we ordered half the menu to start: a specialty pizza (baked egg and mushroom), Burrata cheese, Brussels sprouts, pork meatballs, ricotta croquettes with truffle honey and rosemary … For our entrees, we selected a spread of meats and pastas including the hangar steak with pistachio-arugula pesto, roasted chicken with black kale and panzanella, short-rib ravioli, and squash agnolotti. I indulged in the perfectly al dente goodness of the spaghetti cacio pepe followed by the affogato (Madagascar vanilla gelato drowned in Stumptown cold-brew coffee). With a great wine and cocktails list, to boot, Osteria La Buca was the perfect place for this New Yorker to go southern L.A. native.
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