10 Nov Comfort Food at Il Piccolo Verde

It is hard to keep track of how many Italian restaurants there are in the Brentwood area of West Los Angeles. Italian restaurants are like Starbucks….one on every corner and then a few more in between. Many of these restaurants offer delicious modern Italian cuisine. Others offer old school cuisine, serving up Italian-American familiar comfort dishes.

Il Piccolo Verde on Barrington Court, near Sunset, is one of these places. Il Piccolo Verde is a friendly neighborhood restaurant on the former site of Restaurant San Gennaro. Owners Mike Schwartz and Oscar Morel opened Il Piccolo Verde in 2013.

The antipasti are standard selections using fresh ingredients and well-seasoned.

Caprese (sliced homemade bufala mozzarella with sliced tomatoes, basil, pesto and olive oil)

Carpaccio (beef tenderloin with arugual, mushrooms, shaved parmesan, lemon juice and olive oil)

Melanzane – as a huge fan of eggplant Parmesan, I liked how the eggplant was baked and light, instead of oily and fried.

The pizza, made in a wood oven, comes either Italian style (Napoletana 12″) or NY style (12″ and 16″). As an Italophile, I am partial to thin crust Italian style pizza and Il Piccolo Verde makes a good one.

With 24 pasta dishes, there are too many choices. But we narrowed it down to two that were handmade pastas and perfectly cooked.

Pappardelle Bolognese (homemade wide noodle pasta with traditional meat sauce)

Ravioli Casarecci (homemade ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta cheese in a pink sauce)

In general, the dishes on Il Piccolo Verde’s main menu are tasty but not inventive. But, there is a second menu called the Verde Natural menu offering low-fat, gluten-free and vegan options. Now everyone, no matter their dietary choice, can come together for casual, neighborhood comfort food at Il Piccolo Verde.

Il Piccolo Verde
140 S. Barrington Place, Los Angeles