Please The Palate |

Marino Ristorante

It's sometimes easy to forget about long-standing restaurants when we are always trying the newest place. But, for more than 30 years (since 1983), Marino Ristorante has been family owned and operated serving traditional Italian food to the Hollywood and Hancock Park communities. Every morning at 5am, Mario Marino (the son of founder Ciro "Mario" Marino) can be found at the fish market, selecting fresh fish for the menu. Then you will find Mario at the restaurant, both at lunch and dinner, charming guests and suggesting wine pairings.

12 January, 2015

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.

10 November, 2014

Adoteca Brentwood

I was telling a friend that I had a great meal at an Italian restaurant the other day. He asked me where and I told him that it was on San Vicente Blvd. in Brentwood (West LA). He asked me where exactly and I explained that it is west of Barrington on the south side of the street and next to a toy store. He responded that he needed to know exactly where to go because "there is another Italian restaurant on that street as far as you can spit." Driving down San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood, you might think that you were in a "Little Italy" of sorts. I counted at least ten Italian Restaurants on San Vicente, plus more on just north on Sunset Blvd. The newest of these restaurants, Adoteca, opened last December.

29 September, 2014