Zucca Ristorante

801 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90017
http://www.patinagroup.com/

I (Ray) remember seeing this place when it first opened, having driven by multiple times to and from work. The deep red lampshades that seemed to signify "classy Italian cuisine". I remember thinking to myself, "that place looks good." It wouldn't be until years later that I'd have the opportunity to go.

A friend was staying in downtown and we decided to get together at Zucca's for dinner, mainly for it's central location for all those coming. The menu presented items that seemed like prototypical Italian dishes so we asked the waitress for her recommendations. She gave us two, both of which we elected to order.

1. tortelloni, roasted butternut squash, sage, aged Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese - I am not sure if it has anything to due to wanting our pasta prepared "al dente" but we have, on occassion, had a few pasta dishes that were served luke warm. In general, the preference is to have your food, cooked food, served nice and hot. Hot usually means freshly prepared and it helps enhance the taste. However, this luke warm preparation didn't seem like it would have been much better had it been served at a more appealing temperature. The squash was subtlely sweet. The pasta itself was mediocre and there was not enough parmigiano to bring much else to this dish.

2. Abbacchio alla Scottadito, Grilled Sonoma hormone-free lamb chops, mint pesto, hazelnut-potato purée, broccolini - Like the pasta, this dish was also served luke warm. For a night where less than half the restaurant was filled, it seems odd that the food would reach it's customers in such fashion. The chops were slightly overdone. Although I understand the purpose of combining mint and lamb, the version of the combination did not seem to work. The best part of this dish was the broccolini, but that's mainly due to the lack of anything else appealing.

3. panna cotta with fresh berries - Simple. Ordinary. Had a nice consistency. The berries were sweet, with a nice tartness.

The meal was a big disappointment. It makes sense now that it took so long to finally dine here after passing by for so many years. If the food were good, we definitely would have been here a lot sooner. We always hope that restaurants in and around Downtown do well. Deep down, we'd like to see the food scene here in LA grow to something close to what New York and San Francisco have. But if places like Zucca are what downtown has to show for good Italian, it might take awhile.