Great reporting! Thanks for the follow up.
I’ve been wanting to make another trip here to try some other menu items, but haven’t made the trek yet.
I seriously think JGold gets different food when he shows up at restaurants these days…
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isn’t that sop for restaurant reviewers? and why they hate having their “real” identities known?
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
On the other hand, he said the best dish is the farinata, which isn’t on the menu, but is given to regular joes. I said the exact same thing in my review a few weeks back.
And the risottos are good, to be fair.
Booked!
Glutton for punishment huh?
Just order all the risottos lol
lol really? i guess i’ll dabble… i make pretty good ones myself but dont have no truffles
Have you been following the reviews of this place?.. The only things that are decent on the menu are the risottos.
no! i thought they were nothing but rave reviews! are you kidding me? If it’s meh i’m going to Papilles so fast. A friend just went there and loved it, and I thought J Gold raved about it?
I assume you’re joking?..
lol
Well, good luck, be fun to see another opinion about the place I guess.
No I’ve read nothing. I guess i better go read… You’ve got me curious and confused.
re: farinata
i’ve been to brera only a few times, but not one time was the farinata avail when I asked for it. can’t find a single pic of what farinata out in the wild except in LA Times. bigger vaporware than model3.
I see that Yelp also has a pic of the farinata. Looks HUGE!
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/officine-brera-los-angeles?select=aroArTpp9WJnNQt6nr3iyA
Since you’re into Malbec, you’ve been to Carlito’s Gardel right?
I canceled it. No time for maybes. Probably end up at Papilles again
Went tonight. Corkage is $25 for the first 2 bottles and $35 for each subsequent.
Pastas are very good here. So are the risottos. Tartare is good but it’s better at Redbird.
Veal chop wasn’t terrible. The part on the bone not drenched in sauce was pretty good.
Desserts are very good. The rice pudding cake is very good. The Italian cheesecake even better.
Tasty but nothing special
Really good vegetable fritters.
Pasta with ragu
Pasta with quail
Saffron risotto with bone marrow. Nice saffron taste. Bone marrow is probably superfluous.
Seafood risotto. Very good.
Risotto with sausage. No disrespect but it tasted like risotto with breakfast sausage and spam. Nonetheless, tasty.
Infamous veal chop
Rice pudding cake. Very good.
Excellent cheesecake
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Warrior: I feel like the quality at this restaurant has declined. Too many dishes taste too bland. It’s as if the restaurant made a conscious effort to be light and healthy. Italian food without plenty of olive oil or butter is not Italian food. The pasta was also overcooked today. On the positive side, I thought the dish of braised snails and white asparagus was terrific. The snails were remarkably tender. All the other dishes were mediocre. So sad.
Peony: We have been to brera for many years. The first couple times I went, I wasn’t able to appreciate this style of food and found the food unexciting. As I’ve grown older, my taste has evolved and I’ve started to like the food here more and more. They started to expand the patio area during COVID, which I actually prefer to the indoor industrial style deco. I also feel the chef has been creating more new dishes with California elements. We had several meals here since last year and some of the dishes were quite nice overall. We felt the dishes tonight were a bit inconsistent and only one dish was of a higher standard. Hopefully this is just bad ordering on our side, not that the level of the restaurant has gone down, because we really liked this place.
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Warrior: Brera is the saddest food story in my 14 years in LA. It used to be my favorite Italian restaurant in LA, and I was a regular. I’d guess I’ve eaten there 50 times. The food was traditional and stodgy, but it was expertly prepared and delicious to my tastes. I liked it more than Valentino, which had a similar vibe.
But Brera was often nearly empty. I wondered how they could stay open. Their mature, disproportionally European, clientele did not reflect the residents of DTLA. For whatever reason, Brera didn’t seem to catch on with the foodie community either, though Jonathan Gold did include it in his annual 101 restaurants list.
Over the past two years, the food at Brera has deteriorated. It appears they are trying to make the dishes more modern and Instagrammable, but the results are inferior. The decline is symbolized by the fact that they no longer serve the farinata that was their signature off-menu item. In its place, you can order their new menu items of bread with butter or olive oil.
The quality of the ingredients is worse too. Last night’s burrata was the worst burrata I can remember eating at a serious restaurant. The outside was rubbery and the inside was grainy.
Ironically, the restaurant now appears to be prospering. The tables are mostly full, despite the addition of a large outdoor patio. But the faces are different. They look like DTLA residents now. I’ll call it the Bestiafication of Brera (though Bestia is the better restaurant today). While I am happy that Brera is achieving more success, I do not plan to dine there again.
Peony: We’ve been to Brera for many years and have been noticing some kind of rebranding recently. I was quite surprised yesterday to see the young, lively atmosphere. It was very different from the serious and austere feeling from a couple of years ago. They made changes to some of their more classic dishes. For example, they no longer serve farinata. The food was still cooked correctly, and the textures all tasted right. The biggest difference is they seem to make the food lighter, using very little olive oil, while they were generous about olive oil before. It is still a good place to eat. I just feel the restaurant is no longer the same. Previously, I think it was an Italian restaurant. Now, I think it is more California in style than Italian.
Re the Peony & Warrior thing, just curious - Are there two different people? If two, do you take turns typing, or does one dictate to the other? Was it a deliberate decision not to create two accounts? Just inquiring
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