Oste - west 3rd

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
1

If opening a new restaurant weren’t hard enough try opening one during the pandemic.

Haven’t really heard anything about oste on the board but since it’s in the neighborhood and since I’m a pizza fanatic we decided to check it out. I will say I was quite skeptical with a name like Oste (short for Osteria) and because the stretch of 3rd has restaurants generally that are more trendy and less about actual food.

Apparently the team that opened the place is from San Fran and has a history working in the fine dining scene up there. They recently started offering their entire menu and were previously only doing limited menus.

The patio is covered with a fancy plastic tarp so that concerned us a bit but it did have decent airflow. Our server, who also turned out to be the owner’s wife said everything was delicious (usually a warning :warning: :bell: for me), then proceeded to recommend the mussels at a pizza place (another :warning: :bell: ), and finally told us that their pizza dough was healthier and made out of flour that included rice and soy (super :warning: :bell:). Needless to say at that point I was really dreading ordering.

Onto the food!

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How was the food? Please allow me to wipe the egg off my face :sweat_smile: because the food was amazing and delicious. :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes:

We ordered the radicchio, fennel salad with pear pomegranate and Gorgonzola. Well dressed and tasty with hints of sweetness from the pear and pomegranate perfectly balancing the bitterness of the raddichio combined with the crunch of the fennel with a hint of funky creaminess from the Gorgonzola. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Funghi pizza was a winner. Sauted wild mushrooms (I got hints of butter and wine) so not just plain old mushrooms on pie. We got truffle oil on the side. :blush: :star_struck:

Calabrese- spicy nduja, mozzarella on a sweet acidic tomato sauce also delicious :grin: :laughing:

These dishes all sound simple but they were well executed and so tasty.

The real show stopper is the crust. They called it Roman style pinza which I’ve never heard of and after the whole healthy intro was :roll_eyes:, but it was crispy and crunchy without being burnt or hard and was light with just a slight chew. I feel like this is what ospi in Venice is going for with their pizza except Oste does it 10x better and the pizzas are quite filling. Partner commented that she was full but didn’t feel the typical pizza crust bloat. So maybe they have something going with that whole health angle :thinking:

After dinner we heard other tables raving about the mussels so we had some fomo. They also have a legit wine cellar in their loft area but we didn’t try any tonight. Service was excellent they checked on us multiple times and were very friendly. They even told some people that were trying to order takeout that there were some things that they would not make to go, which during these difficult times for restaurants is commendable.

This just jumped to the top echelons of my pizza list solely based on the execution of the dough/cooking and because of how different it is from other pizzerias in LA. I can only eat so many neo-neopolitan or foccacia/Detroit inspired square pies.

The moral is I’m an idiot and never judge a book by it’s cover. Prior to ordering I legitimately tried to tell partner that we should only order one pizza so I could get an actual good pizza at la morra. I’m glad that I was proved wrong. We will be back to try their entire menu and they also make all their pasta in house too.

Definitely stop by and check them out. :+1:

Oste
8142 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles

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I agree 100%.

I only had pinsa as they were still in soft opening but damn was it good.

And they were both so nice.

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Jocelyn Bulow’s opened a lot of restaurants in SF: Plouf, multiple Chez Mamans, multiple Chez Papas, multiple Papitos, Baraka, La Suite. Not surprising that the mussels would be good, moules-frites were Plouf’s specialty.

It’s confusing to refer to pinsa as “Roman-style pizza,” since there are already three of those. It was invented around 20 years ago by Corrado di Marco who blended wheat, soy, and rice to make a supposedly more digestible dough. He claims it was inspired by an ancient Roman recipe but that’s just marketing hype.

https://www.finecooking.com/article/how-to-make-pinsa

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Stopped by yesterday as well to pick up a couple pinsas for takeaway. Delicious. Potato with sausage upgrade and pepperoni with Calabrian chili upgrade.

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Oh and one side note, while the terms do obviously have something in common, I do not believe that oste can be used as a shortened term for osteria. The word on its own is something like an innkeeper or host. Also, I could be totally wrong.

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Secondo il dizionario, “oste” means the proprietor of an osteria, though I don’t recall having heard or read it. The usual term for host is ospite (which, weirdly, also means guest). For the owner of a restaurant you might say proprietario, padrone, or gestore.

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Oh, actually, it does come up in the idiom, “Inutile chiedere all’oste se il vino è buono” (it’s pointless to ask the innkeeper if the wine is good).

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The shorthand name was reported in this eater article:

“ Oste (a truncated version of Osteria) is a new Roman-style pizza option opening ”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/la.eater.com/platform/amp/2021/1/6/22217401/roman-pizza-west-third-new-opening-oste-los-angeles

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Had a great meal here a couple weeks back. I’m a believer in pinsa! We got the marinara w/ anchovy and the potato (sausage added on). The crust is crispy with just a little chew in the middle, and it’s a great vehicle for the toppings. Although I could’ve used more anchovy on the marinara (you basically get half per slice), the other one was really generous with cheese, potato, and sausage. Not pictured was an arugula salad and oxtail ragu pappardelle, which was executed really well. The pasta itself had an interesting bounciness to it, almost reminded me of a thick rice noodle.

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The whole experience was solid. Relaxed but professional service. The patio in front is a fun spot to people watch on 3rd St, with tables spaced apart. Interesting that they don’t take reservations - as things re-open further, I could see them getting really busy.

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Anyone been recently? Sounds like the pinsa and mussels are the thing to order?

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Pinsa definitely. Haven’t had the mussels. The pastas are quite good too, but the pinsa is better.

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Thanks! Had an enjoyable dinner. Squash blossoms were delightful. Lightly battered and expertly fried. We shared a few pizzas (mortadella, potato and margarita) and a cacio e pepe. The pasta was very nice - al dente not in that hard sort of way, but more on the chewy side which is my preference. Potato pizza was solid with the thin sliced, oil-marinated potatoes roasted crispy and aromatic with rosemary. The kids loved the mortadella pizza. I didn’t try that or the margarita, although my wife noted that it was a bit too saucy. I can see why people love the crust… it’s a significant notch below Sei for me, as it veers too much to the crispy versus chewy and isn’t as flavorful. But, it’s still very good, just not quite the style for me. Only disappointment was the sorbets and gelatos, which were a bit too sweet and not really enough fruit / nut flavor (we tried pistacio, peach and passionfruit.) I love the area so we’ll probably be back especially as the service was warm and efficient and the ambience just makes for a very nice evening. Next time, will try the moules, which smelled ridiculously good everytime an order went by.

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If you’re in that area take your family to republique, chi spacca, or one of the mozzas!

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Republique and chi spacca are at a significantly higher price point, osteria mozza slighty higher, pizzeria mozza similarly priced but really only has pizza and apps (and the daily special). All good though, but I find chi spacca a bit overrated (putting that lightly).

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Well I have to respectfully disagree with you on chi spacca but to each their own!

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I am definitely in the minority when it comes to Chi Spacca. I’ve only been once, and on that one occasion everything was great EXCEPT the steak, which was atrocious. We ordered one of the larger format steaks medium rare, and it came borderline raw and completely unseasoned. I like a true medium rare, and I don’t mind a touch before medium rare, but this was nowhere close to medium rare. And as mentioned, it was unseasoned—I don’t mind a simple salt and pepper rub, but it didn’t taste like they even did that, it tasted like they took a raw hunk of meat and seared it for a few seconds. My entire party agreed that it was one of the worst steaks we’ve ever had, and certainly the worst at a restaurant of this purported caliber. Perhaps the line was distracted at that moment and put out a bad steak? I’m willing to give it another chance at some point, as I know nearly everyone else holds it in such high esteem.

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I’ve found the big pieces of meat the least interesting things at Chi Spacca. Though the tomahawk pork chop is very good.

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Nah - the steak there is nowhere as good as it should be. Agree with @robert below - get the T-hawk pork if you want a larger format protein.

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