This has been driving me crazy for the last couple of days. We left Los Angeles in 2003. In the years previous there was a small neighbourhood Italian place on Westwood Blvd. that we used to go to every once in a while–between Santa Monica and, I want to say, Wilshire (on the left hand side of the street, driving up to UCLA). A small place: the owner (Mario? Marco?) and a couple of servers. A small patio but mostly indoor seating. I’ve checked Google Maps but none of the restaurant names rings a bell (I’ll know it when I see/hear it). Anyone know the place I’m talking about?
Pomodoro?
Nope.
The owner (at least I think he was the owner) was Italian, slim build, dark hair.
It could be Sprazzo, which is a few doors from Pomodoro. A little more upscale is La Bruschetta.
None of the above, unless one of them has had a name change.
My 2 top suspects are:
Pomodoro (photo courtesy of Craig O. of yelp)
and Sprazzo (photo courtesy of Richard L. of yelp)
Can you provide more details? Upscale? Mid-priced? Any standout dishes?
There’s Tanino, but that’s in the Village itself (north of Wilshire).
Midpriced. This is a place we went to as grad students. The dish I remember getting often there was a short pasta with lamb and peas.
No, it’s not Sprazzo or Pomodoro. The storefront was like Sprazzo’s (i.e in terms of location–it wasn’t at the end of a block); the patio was enclosed with heat lamps. I’ll try to find a photograph of a part of it–I know we were there for a birthday in October 2001–they pushed all the tables in the patio together for us and it barely fit 10-12 of us there. It’s possible Sprazzo is in that location–I don’t remember it either. This is when Sunnin was on the other side of Westwood from where it is now–back when there was still a Little Santa Monica Blvd…
Oh well, if no one can figure this out I’ll drive by the neighbourhood again when we’re there in December and see if that will jog my memory (I once lived for two years not too far from there–on Midvale right below Santa Monica).
and here is Tanino, which is north of Wilshire Blvd. (photo ourtesy of Pamela M. of yelp):
Nope–it was way less fancy than this. Thanks for trying though!
Well, I found pictures of that birthday party. Unfortunately, they only show the people in attendance. The only possible identifying info for the restaurant is this thing on the wall on the patio. And another picture shows that it was across from a Kinko’s.
A-ha! Kinkos across the street solves the riddle:
Campagnola Trattoria (now defunct) - am I right?! (photo courtesy of Chris T. of Yelp)
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Ding Ding Ding! Thank you so much! When did they close?
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2014 sometime
It seems like they got bigger in between our departure and closing. I could swear that only the half to the left of the entrance was there in our time–but memory may be shrinking it.
I think there was a remodel. They may have taken more space at that time.
JL for the win!
speaking of which is Sprazzo any good ???
I keep thinking I should try it once again after years upon years. but keep thinking that it’s a stodgey beyond oridinary westwoodl italianer.
am I missing something decent ???
for years, I thought that Pastina was really fucking good but I haven’t been there in years either. they did a great cheesecake, great veal chops with porcini mushroom sauce, steak in cognac sauce, lobster ravioli, and tiramisu.
Kevin,
On a related note, with the Dume Room closed, that area of Malibu’s grungiest drinkers now gather at Spruzzo – note the “u” – by Zuma. Not open late, but hell these guys aren’t working days and it’s a full drinkers row…you’d like it… think bearded flip flop wearing 40-60 somethings watching barrett-jackson car auctions while downing generous goblets of swill with a sort of “carla” or “diane” from cheers running the show…oh, there’s also a patio and reasonable food but only if you happen to be there for that…