Kingfish crudo: nice with Bellone.
Caponata: great except the ratio of eggplant to other stuff was a little low.
Summer fruit: great except one peach was unripe and hard. I’m surprised the kitchen didn’t catch that.
Triangoli with corn and chanterelles: very nice, lots of fresh corn flavor.
Lamb chops: perfect.
Harry’s Berries strawberry ice cream. Dense and luscious.
First time we had Chef Colby’s food was at Scuola di Pizza at Mozza many years ago and so it was great to finally try out his “new” place Antico Nuovo https://www.anticonuovo-la.com/ in the Larchmont area in LA. As a solo diner it was really helpful to be able to order half portions of the pasta and ice creams to try out more dishes. Overall outstanding dishes which you don’t find on every menu, e.g. cheek and tongue ragu, fire roasted squab, veal sweetbread and of course the ice creams.
We came to a consensus today. The focaccia is good. Everything else: not so much.
Yes, I think their COVID version of the restaurant (foccacia pizza and ice cream) was their best version.
What did you order?
You don’t like the ice cream?
On our last visit, we tried an off-menu yellowtail collar appetizer. It was bad in many ways. It was too vinegary and not cooked such that the meat easily fell from the bones. Kuya Lord’s yellowtail collar is much better. Generally, I don’t like the way that Antico Nuovo prepares fish. But it was this particular dish that made me think: “I’m not coming back again.”
Cauliflower was pretty good but also too vinegary. I think the chef prefers more tang to dishes than I like.
Tomahawk steak was okay but chewy and lacking flavor to our tastes.
We aren’t fans of their pastas. Haven’t tried the ice cream that I can remember.
In fairness, I thought the focaccia and ricotta spread were excellent. The caponata was okay, but bested by a similar eggplant dish we recently ate at unacclaimed Havlabar.
I don’t think it’s a terrible restaurant. I just doubt we’ll go back given that we prefer the three Funke restaurants, Osteria Mozza, Gucci Osteria, Stella West Hollywood, Rossoblu, and Angelini Osteria (as well as Leopardo if you consider that Italian). For context, we’ve eaten at Antico Nuovo about five times.
Oddly enough, I preferred the chef’s short-lived restaurant Bari.
That was a short-lived gem.
Going tonight.
I cannot wait for ice cream!
Still a great meal. Still a good time.
It was a full house for Saturday dinner service.
The wood fire was also out. The team was having issues with the vent and the fire wasn’t lit until we were midway through dinner service. Much of the secondi menu wasn’t available until they could figure things out…and Chef Colby was trying to troubleshoot the issue.
Got the focaccia service with ricotta/pistachio pesto and the butter/bottarga combos. Great.
Caesar was nice with the broccolini greens.
Pappardelle and plin pastas solid. It’s different from what we had at Felix recently, and the Felix pastas edge out Antico.
The veal chop and skirt steaks were good…the veal chop outshined the skirt steak.
I didn’t love the potato purée with bone marrow, but did enjoy the asparagus & fiddlehead ferns. Is there a distinct taste fiddleheads should have? It kinda tasted like a cross between a haricot vert and a snap pea.
For dessert, since there was 4 of us…was an ice cream buffet. This has long been a dream of mine, but we usually come just us 2 so ordering more than 2 ice creams is overkill. We ordered chocolate, strawberry, tangerine, honeycomb, and pistachio crunch. I didn’t want the coconut caramel and they talked me out of the focaccia. Each ice cream was a delight…pro tips: chocolate pairs well with strawberry or tangerine; strawberry also goes great with pistachio crunch for a high-end peanut butter & jelly. There was not a clunker in the group. Some mentioned the tangerine was a little sherbet-esque.
We had a nice bottle to pair with dinner…I can’t remember what it was outside it was a blend of cab franc, merlot, and something else from 2022.
A fine evening with friends.
Went for the first time recently. Lovely place but maybe my expectations were too high.
Focaccia with anchovies was great, asparagus and fiddleheads also great, ice cream was incredible. Pastas were good and interesting withbsome lesser used ingredients, but maybe a level below most of the other big names on the scene?
What did i miss? What should i get next time.
focaccia duck liver pate
focaccia whipped ricotta
focaccia butter x anchovies
agree.
I was picking up ice cream and marveled at this case. I asked if it’s mostly decoration or do they use the tools. Yep, we use all of them was the response.
Wait…they still sell ice cream?!
Yah, they started selling pints again, apparently under the radar. I didn’t know until a food talker mentioned it a while back. 
Damn I drove by last night thinking about that ice cream 
Does he still have the antique meat slicer?
Sorry, I can’t say. I was in the front waiting for my ice cream and only saw the tools in the case.
