Great! Short, delicious and to the point!
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Oh snapâŚ
Another wonderful meal at Felix, this time as a walk-in at the communal table, A few changes to the menu, notably, among the pastas and the mixed grill had been replaced by a brisket but I wanted to try one of the pizzas so will save the brisket for another dinnerâŚif it is still on the menu when I go back. I started off with the pork meatballs, which have a crispy fried crust but are very tender inside and come with a nice salsa verde and a sprinkling of parmigiano reggianoâquite good but I think the squash blossoms and the crudo are even better. Next up was the Diavolo pizza, which had a good char (thankfully not Lodge level) and a decent heat from the chili oilâI enjoyed it but, next time, would be likelier to order an entree instead if I was also having pastaâŚand I would typically want to have one of the pastas. That night, it was the capunti (a pasta style from Puglia shaped like an open pea pod) with rapini and sausageâwonderful flavors and nicely balanced. The place is still hopping but the staff remains as friendly and helpful as on opening night.
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Had a slightly less successful dinner tonight, mainly because nothing reached the high bar set by the squash blossoms and the orecchiette with sausage sugo from my first visit. Highlights were the malloreddus and budinio.
crudo di gamberi - ridgeback prawns, lemon & peperoncino turchese
These were fine, but as @Chowseeker1999 noted, I thought it could have used another component.
polpette della maestra alessandra - pork meatballs, salsa verde & parmigiano reggiano
Crunchy on the outside and soft and porky on the inside, pretty good, a bit salty.
pappardelle - ragu bolognese, âvecchia scuolaâ, parmagiano 48 mo.
Thin soft sheets of pasta, had plenty of meat but not much sauce.
rigatoni allâamatriciana
This was softer than i was expecting with several pieces that were already broken lengthwise.
malloreddus - saffron, ragu dâagnello, fiore sardo
this was an Easter special. âFunkeâ, gamy, lamb with firm chewy pasta.
budino di nocino - whipped cream, walnut croccante
@katsu was right the budino was fantastic, the slightly bitter walnuts balanced out the budino perfectly. I preferred it to the sweeter Mozza budino.
Service is still great. @tailbacku will be happy to know they removed that ridiculous tax on the 20% mandatory service charge.
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Never mind, the service charge is still being taxed, itâs folded into the sales tax instead of being a separate line item.
Had a great dinner tonight. No picsâbut the highlights included both breads (the sourdough with basil lardo was particularly amazing), Cicoria (honey dates, bagna cauda, capers, pine nuts & pecorino), Porri Bruciati (charred leeks, chili, garlic, mint & bottarga), and capunti with sausage sugo, broccolini, and pecorino.
My favorite thing, aside from the food, was the general atmosphere. Relaxed, pleasant, good service. A nice place. I will be back to try the rest of the menu.
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Iâm kind of swooning over this place the next day. Funke has done something I didnât think was possible anymoreâcreated a bustling, excellent restaurant in a âhotâ part of town that actually feels like a neighborhood restaurant. In a new era in which every day brings a newly hyped outsider, itâs nice to get a new restaurant from an LA chef we can all get behind.
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going tomorrow
totally looking forward to it
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thatâs a winner. try the squash blossoms too.
Had dinner here on Friday. Overall: very positive.
We were seated fifteen minutes late for our reservation, so FoH(?) comped us 3(!) appetizers:
Focaccia: fluffy, nice herbs, hard to find anything to complain about
Pork Meatballs: excellent - perfectly fried, with a deep porcine flavor. Not too sold on the âsalsa verdeâ - the only note I got was garlic?? Still, feels like a âmust orderâ at least once.
Vegetables + Ricotta: Grilled bread here was fantastic, vegetables were very fresh, and ricotta was very creamy. Mightâve actually wanted a bit more funk, but overall, very good.
Also ordered the Crudo: prawns were obviously very fresh. Olive oil was an interesting accompaniment. I think it actually worked better without sort of âbaseâ (countervailing element), to let the flavor of the seafood shine through, but this opinion may be polarizing.
Wouldâve ordered the squash blossoms, but theyâd sold out the day before!
Pastas:
Wanted to get the pappardelle, but theyâd sold out of it just 15 minutes before.
Spaghetti: Really great, excellent bitterness from the bottarga.
Trofie: I guess Iâm a bit contrary because I thought the pesto was perfect - I definitely prefer the more delicate approach. Tied with the spaghetti for my favorite pasta of the night.
Cacio e pepe: This is what Jon & Vinnyâs rendition wants to be when it grows up. The creeping heat from the pepper was surprisingly strong but very pleasant.
Orecchiette: Saucing was changed - something not too dissimilar to the earlier pesto. This felt a bit undercooked, and one of my dining companions agreed - they very graciously insisted on taking it off the bill, but explained that it was âsupposedâ to be like that. (What, less cooked than the other pastas, despite its greater size? Sure 
)
???: I forget⌠this is what I get for not taking pictures. Similarly shaped to the gnoccetti, but a bit longer. Red sauce. Perhaps I was getting a little too full, but I was not as impressed with this as the first three. Tasted vaguely like BBQ sauce, though one of my companions insisted it was more like buffalo (heâs wrong, of course).
Gnoccetti: @Chowseeker1999 has it right: this did taste like BBQ sauce (though, funnily enough, of a different variety than the last pasta. Iâm not enough of an expert to tell you which was was which). Slightly better than the last one, but still not to my taste. Iâll need to try again when Iâm hungry.
Drinks:
Hey Nineteen: Youâd think tequila + pineapple would be a played out flavor combination, but they kept it interesting, somehow. Maybe a touch too boozy on the back-end, but still very good.
Too Soon?: Really excellent, taste remniscent of grapefruit despite lemon and orange being the only citrus present. Nice bitterness on the finish. Didnât pair well with the pastas, but thatâs my fault for being a heathen.
(Also, cocktail prices are down to $15-16 - for some reason I thought they were at $17-18, which was edging into the âsillyâ range.)
Iâm amazed that I can get pasta that tops places like Republique and Bestia for far less money. Too bad Venice is so far away.
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What time did you order?
Reservation for 9, seated @ 9:15, probably ordered 10-15 minutes later.
Are you saying that because Felix portions are bigger? The straight up prices are pretty similar at Bestia and Felix it seems like? ($20-$23 for most of them; but I guess Bestia does have the various $29 options).
Yes, Bestia does have some options that are comparable in price - so I suppose that comparison is perhaps not perfect. I do think Felix portion sizes are slightly larger but I wouldnât put $$$ on it without an actual kitchen scale. I also think Bestiaâs pricier pastas tend to use more expensive ingredients (truffles, seafood) than are available at Felix.
However, compare to Republique, where the Pastas start at $27 and often reach $50 (truffles, again!).
Iâm trying to figure out what other places can be used as a baseline for comparison. Jon & Vinnyâs? Officine Brera? Osteria Mozza? Iâm not familiar with any pasta places on the Westside.
I guess they canât wait keep it the 11 hours and close the kitchen more around 10:30.
But they were nice enough to make me a pizza last minute anyway last night.
Perfect Italian pizza to my palate. Maybe more Roman than Neapolitan? At least it tastes just like the pizzas I ate in Rome in terms of the crust. The crust is easy to eat by itself. So good. Thy get their Nduja from Chi Spacca, so pretty incredible stuff.
They were beyond nice enough to comp me some bright Lambrusco since I drove from downtown âall the way thereâ. It is a super relaxed, nice and humble place.
The super awesome wine director also gave me some tastes of a deep, earthy and fizzy Gregano
And a super bright and fruit-forward Grenache
They are rermkvmy hard-irking and humble people who are still working tirelessly every day to make improvements.
The kind of place I endlessly look forward to returning to, though I hope they can make their hours later at some point. Gjelina and The Tasting Kitchen were super busy at 11:55 when I left Felix, so the crowd seems to exist there.
Republique makes some damn good pasta, but I wasnât arguing that point haha they are absurdly pricy.
Bestia has never seemed quite like that. Heck Bestia was the âvalue pastaâ compared to Republique for me. Their spaghetti rustichella is a mere $29 versus Republiqueâs $41 lol
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Agreed, they didnât have any takeout containers opening night and one of the managers went out of his way to go to another restaurant to try and find one.
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think if i get there at opening 5:30pm on Sunday with a party of 3 they will give us a table?