Celestino Ristorante

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in Los Angeles.

Calogero Drago, one of four Sicilian brothers behind a run of Italian restaurants across LA, owns this dining room on South Lake Avenue, which carries the name of his brother Celestino's long-gone Beverly Hills restaurant. The menu turns with the seasons around house-made pasta and seafood, and it includes potato gnocchi stuffed with mushroom in a truffle and fontina fondue. Sam Nicholson's paintings of small Italian towns and Venetian canals hang over linen-covered tables. There's a garden patio, and private rooms for bigger parties.