Osteria Vera

On our lists of the best cozy restaurants and special-occasion restaurants in Los Angeles.

Nicola Mastronardi, who grew up in Puglia and ran the kitchen at Brentwood's Vincenti for more than twenty years, cooks here in the old Pecorino space on San Vicente. Pecorino's owner, Giorgio Pierangeli, is his partner, and they kept that restaurant's cacio e pepe, tossed at the table inside a cheese wheel. The rest of the menu is house-made pasta, pizza, grilled and roast meats, and fish. The room has hardwood floors, bare varnished tables and an open kitchen facing the diners. At dinner there's valet parking by the front entrance.