Twenty-five years in and the energy inside chef Gino Angelini’s Italian stalwart Angelini Osteria still pulses like that of a hot new restaurant. The restaurant’s designer-clad crowd — a mix of date-night couples and boisterous mixed company — files in early and stays late. Everyone’s sips bubbles to start before sharing bottles of reds; the bolder, the better to accompany glorious spreads of wood-fired pizzas, antipasti, pastas, and chops of all stripes. New Italian restaurants open every week across the city, but none offer quite the same deft cooking and timeless appeal found at Angelini Osteria.
The restaurant added cocktails to its beverage lineup for the first time in late 2025, offering diners something to sip beyond its Italian-heavy wine list. Italian liquors and amaros show up in gin and tonics, Negronis, and chef Angelini’s favorite Paper Plane cocktail made with Michter’s bourbon, Italian amaro, Aperol, and lemon.
Inspired by a trip to Paris, chef Gianpiero Ceppaglia recently added creme brulee with black truffles to the dessert menu. Dine between October and December to experience the delicate custard topped with in-season white truffles. The sweet-savory interplay between a double dose of truffles renders something splendid.
Gino Angelini could be credited for ushering in the latest era of Italian American cooking, the seasoned chef leaning on his upbringing in Emilia Romagna and key tenure at ’90s classic Rex Il Ristorante. In 2001, he opened Angelini Osteria, weaving in fine dining-level execution with pasta, pizza, and grilled secondi. Alumni like Ori Menashe have gone on to inform Los Angeles’s perception of Italian food since, but Angelini Osteria remains a modern classic inside its homey Beverly Grove dining room. The lasagna verde “Nonna Elvira,” a cheesy, meaty, fried spinach-topped icon, is a must-order for first-timers.
