Felix - Venice

I’ve become a regular at this place because the pasta is so extraordinary. This about sums up my typical order.

I celebrated my birthday there last Wednesday, and it was spectacular. Got the 45oz costata fiorentina, a bunch of pastas (I’ve now had all of them on their current menu), pizza (the simple new pizza with cherry tomatos and bufala mozzarella might be my new favorite pizza in LA), and some salads/veggies. I love the wine selection as well; great lambruscos and super tuscans on the list, even if you don’t want to blow $500 on a bottle of Sassicaia.

But what I love most about this place is how much like Italy it usually feels like. Even though the steak wasn’t quite as large as the ones in Florence, it was just remarkable, and it tasted closest to how the bistecca’s I’ve had in Florence are. Even comparing to the rendition at Chi Spacca, which is quite good (and about $100 more expensive), I thought it was the preferable steak. Comparatively, I also had nearly the same steak at Chianina in Long Beach recently ($50 more expensive), and thought it didn’t even come close somehow. You would think that a big ol’ steak would be a big ol’ steak, but the one at Felix just had a kind of ineffable similarity to the flavor of Florence. I think at least part of it was the crust, which was the crispest crust I’ve had on an American steak, done to a truly proper rare, with just the right amount of pepper, rosemary, lemon…I’m am afraid I cannot put its glories into words.

The roman style brisket on toast (picchiapo) is also really wonderful as a main.

Anyway, yeah, I love this place! Worth driving to fairly often for me. I wish they had opened this in downtown instead of Rossoblu lol

Sadly I only took a really poor photo of the steak, but might as well take a gander for those curious:

2 Likes

don’t be silly, make sure you get a vegetable too, like the orecchiette with sausage sugo and broccoli.

5 Likes

@JulianKizmati - Awesome. Thanks for the info (and happy bidet!). Coincidentally, I’ll be going for my bidet dinner as well, so this was perfect. Pasta tunnel vision: activate.

@nosh - Nice write-up! Great info.

@PorkyBelly - My man.

Spell-check strikes again. :wink:

8 Likes

How is self parking around Felix on a Saturday night? If valet is the best option, I’d probably rather Uber over.

Usually fine.

But at worst maybe have to walk 1-2 blocks.

If that’s an issue. Uber the heck out of it! :smile:

It’s on the western end of abbot kinney so I’ve always been able to find street parking

Felix reminded me of why I like dining in LA so much. Excellent food, casual setting, music blasting on a Saturday night, hip neighborhood. Stuck with mostly pastas, but would like to return for that steak.

3 Likes

Nice, what did you have, are they still serving the peaches and burrata? how was parking?

Admittedly I didn’t take a good look at the salad section, as we were not planning on getting one at all, but ended up tacking on the arugula last minute.

  • negroni bianco
  • arugula salad
  • squash blossoms
  • two glasses of the Arcanum Super Tuscan (2006)
  • orichiette (sausage and brocolli)
  • tonnarelli cacio e pepe
  • duck ragu pasta, the noodle was similar to the tonnarelli
  • budino

Everything was deeply satisfying, though duck ragu was my least favorite. Cacio e pepe was the best thing we had. Tagliatelle and focacia were gone by the time we ordered between 8:30 and 9pm.

Parking was easy, glad I drove!

1 Like

Argh. That will likely make it a no-go for partner. ::sigh::

Well, I can always look at the photos in this thread. :slight_smile:

1 Like

It did not make conversation uncomfortable, but the vibe was more lively
than expected (for me that was a positive). I have a harder time
conversing at Broken Spanish because the room itself seems to be insanely
reflective.

Give it a shot or maybe go during the week!

1 Like

Music is not club level or a hint and the room has good acoustics. I’ve never had trouble talking there.

On the other hand, I really wish they would just play good jazz like Chi Spacca. Their choices of soundtrack don’t fit the feel of the restaurant or food really at all to me. Probably my only criticism of the place.

1 Like

Another fan-o-Felix here. We had a great meal there.

Thanks to all who assured me of my pasta-only strategy. Worked a treat. We had one from each region, and they paced them out as shown below, which was really appreciated.

first

  • PAPPARDELLE
  • CACIO E PEPE

second

  • One that’s not on the online menu that I can’t recall. It started with B, I think. The pasta also looked like little bees. And there were mushrooms (I made a funghi/fun guy joke that brought the entire restaurant to its knees in laughter.) And there were bread crumbs. We’ll call it BEE-FUNGUY-BREAD.

third

  • ORECCHIETTE

All of them were fantastic. Couldn’t have asked for better. Maybe because it was so big and last, but the Orecchiette really stands out in my memory. We also finished with the Budino, which was a sunny delight.

I gotta get back to try the pizza.

Oh, and @paranoidgarliclover - don’t worry too much about the noise level. We were seated at 7pm on a Friday, and the volume wasn’t at 11 yet, so maybe just avoid later weekend nights?

6 Likes

Your reviews are so practical and useful. Thank you.

Your bistecca was only $110? The one I ordered over the weekend was $210 and 48 oz. Valet price went up, it is now $10.

I had the most incredible Pork Neck/Shoulder steak (maiale) at Felix tonight.
Perfectly grilled with Apricots and Basil (nice, large, probably hand-torn pieces of basil, not chopped to near-oblivion like most places do it - it really is such simple things that can really elevate a dish).

1 Like

How far in advance do Resy’s open up for Felix? I want to book a Saturday night dinner for my birthday in September and was wondering what day I need to remind myself to do this.

Four weeks

1 Like