Pistola
Ciabatta, Sesame, Bread Stick, Whole Wheat with Salted Butter
Fegatini – Foie Gras Crostini, Vin Santo, Pear Mostarda, Tuscan Toast, Sea Salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Roasted Kabocha Squash – Local Burrata, Pomegranate, Scallions, Blood Orange
Half Chicken Scarpariiello
Linguini – Manila Clams, Leeks, Mollica
Potato Gnocchi – Wild Mushrooms, Marsala
Bucatini Alla Carbonara – Guanciale, Onion, Black Pepper, Egg Yolk, Pecorino
Chocolate Tagliatelle – Braised Duck, Rosemary, Fegato, Aceto Balsamico
Squid Ink Agnolotti – Lobster, Shrump, Scallop, Sea Urchin
Funghi Misti – Black Truffle Butter , Thyme
Creamy Polenta – Parmigiano Reggiano
Double Espresso on Ice
Cannoli – Sweet Ricotta, Candied Orange, Sicilian Pistachio, Chocolate Chips
Green Apple Crostata – Figs, Almonds, Honey
Tortino – Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Crema, Marshmallow
Filling the old AOC space on 3rd Street with a see-and-be-seen scene and cuisine from Vic Casanova Pistola has been white-hot ever since opening its doors, and with a menu fairly familiar to those experienced with East Coast (or Las Vegas) Italian Steakhouses an 8:30pm reservation with two friends found the restaurant absolutely slammed – the bar three-deep and exceedingly loud while the more subdued upstairs was a mix of overpowering cologne, unnecessary music, a couple making out in plain view of thirty others, and a private room with open air access allowing 50F air to flow over everyone in the adjacent room.
Admittedly off-put by the setting, to the point where I’d considered walking out until the fellow who’d bathed in Gucci Guilty asked to be relocated because he was too cold, it was to equally off putting service that our trio was treated throughout the course of the meal and with plates slopped down by back servers, an espresso spilled after being almost ‘spiked’ on the table without apology, and the wrong Bucatini being served after an inexplicable 48-minute delay between second and third courses suffice it to say that even compared to Las Vegas this is not a place to go for those looking for a refined meal, the case of a highly skilled kitchen done a significant disservice by the front of house to say the least.
Moving onto the food, expectedly high priced given the location and hype, it was with a duo of appetizers alongside disturbingly dry bread that the meal commenced and with a thin smear of recently legalized foie gras atop crispy bread kicking things off it would be difficult not to quibble the $18, no matter how good, when compared to what was enjoyed at Terrine the day after for a couple dollars more, while the cold Kabocha beneath creamy, stretchy cheese was one of the better preparations tasted in recent memory – the splash of acid and sweet exclamation points of pomegranate juxtaposing crisp scallions offering a substantial upgrade on a dish far too often seen throughout Southern California.
Opting to overdo it on pastas, priced at $20-$25 and all made in house, it was with a trio arriving no more than ten minutes after appetizers were cleared that the meal carried on and although the Linguini was exceedingly well done with al dente noodles matched to mussels and leeks it simply could not compare to pillow-soft gnocchi in a rich ragu, nor tender black agnolotti somehow managing the highwire act of being both sweet and briny, the flavors of uni melding to snappy lobster and buttery scallops with just the right amount of ‘sea.’
At this point inexplicably delayed, only to have the wrong pasta and no sides arrive alongside excellent roast chicken and overcooked tagliatelle that unfortunately saw the fowl get lost in the metallic taste of liver mixed with balsamic, it was to a ‘rushed’ order of carbonara that we were eventually treated but with noodles far too al dente while the entire flavor profile leaned far too saline one only wished we’d have simply passed on the $23 mistake instead – a similar sentiment applicable to the overly ‘truffled’ mushrooms, though the creamy polenta was toothsome and rich with topnotes of cheese kept in check by plenty of cream.
A bit underwhelmed at this point, but unwilling to forgo dessert, it from a concise list of three plated choices along with gelato, sorbet, and cookies that we were left to decide and figuring another $9 each was irrelevant at this point a ‘one of each’ approach was taken – the pinky-sized Cannolis certainly not worth $3 a piece though both the moist chocolate cake and fig-laden crostata were admittedly quite delicious and elegant – the haphazard spillage of coffee notwithstanding.
http://www.pistola-la.com/
