Old School Italian in Los Angeles

Micelli’s on Las Plamas, in Hollywood. That place has been there forever, it was a special outing when we were kids. We’d get a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs, a pizza and lasagna and other stuff and share. It had checked tablecloths and Chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling. Did they used to sing there?

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Yes, Hoboken. How are the salads and pizza? I ask b/c, if I’m not misreading the website, they offer a RIDICULOUS deal on Mondays (free pizza w/ an order of a salad [!!!]).

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yogachik, the same people have been cooking at Hoboken…they exchanged the red/white table cloths but still serve many of the old dishes

pizza is decent…excellent caesar, good chopped salad, not sure what else but yes, ridiculous deal…i used to have lunch their 4 days a week and know the older waiters and they surprised me with that special …well worth it

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Yep… Jones has a good spaghetti and meatballs.

Are you allowed to mention NYC and L.A. red sauce in the same sentence?

You mean like you just did?

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[quote=“Jemange, post:5, topic:4226”]
I’d have to go with Rao’s.
[/quote]I’d listen to Jemange. He or She (I think he) is a real Easterner.

[quote=“ipsedixit, post:28, topic:4226”]
You mean like you just did?
[/quote]Yes

[quote=“PorkyBelly, post:9, topic:4226, full:true”]
that’s a bargain compared to the $64 veal parm and $75 lasagna at carbone
[/quote]What!!!

[quote=“matthewkang, post:12, topic:4226, full:true”]
Haha so what should I have said: they’re ludicrously priced?
[/quote]Yes. You’re being too diplomatic for a critic. “We’re gonna’ have ta’ toughen this kid up.”

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The cost of purchase.

[quote=“matthewkang, post:1, topic:4226”]
Jon & Vinny’s (yes, this is red sauce Italian)
[/quote]Yes it is… and good red sauce too.

It’s actually $65 for the veal parm.

But the dish is absolutely glorious.

It’s not over dredged, or heavy, it’s just bordering on this side of crispy so that with each bite you can actually the taste veal, in part because the veal is massaged and pounded out well. Just as well, the entire dish is not over cheesed nor sauced. Yes, it’s big, like personal pizza big, but so what, it’s darn tasty.

And for those why say there’s nothing special about the dish – i.e, no foam, no foie gras, no deconstructed reinterpreted veal parm – this is what makes the dish so great. Plus, veal parm really isn’t one of those dishes that is improved with reinterpretation, which is true of so many comfort foods.

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Man, we rarely agree about anything, but 100% this.

If you’re broke, that’s a separate issue from whether the food is incredible. I’ve rarely felt as happy dropping a couple Benjamin’s as I did at Carbone. There is something to be said about not adding all those foams, or deconstructing things, etc… but simply doing simple dishes to a high standard. Easily one of my favorite places to eat, though I have not been to the Vegas outpost.

I was happy that Jon And Vinny’s is a sort of similar in some ways, but I still have fever dreams about Carbone.

NYC or LV?

[quote=“ipsedixit, post:35, topic:4226”]
Yes, it’s big, like personal pizza big, but so what, it’s darn tasty.
[/quote]Why is it being big a bad thing? It’s $65. Your description is delicious.

Pretty sure I said I’ve not been to the LV outpost?..

It is true, I would not trust very much in Vegas other than Lotus of Siam.

Sorry, missed that part.

I paid $49 for a veal parm chop at Scopa in LA that was probably only half as good as Carbone’s $65 version. (I only paid $64 at the time somehow though). The extra $15 was well worth it imo.