Pippin’ hot or bust.
2 Likes
How many seats in the house? A lot more than downtown.
do they give you free bread? No bread.
is there a service charge with an additional tip line? No
Did the pasta come out piping hot? No. Chef Avner was swirling that hot pan of pasta over the fire and they have chic new heat lamps, but I think that open door is the culprit. If you sit at the counter try to get the north side.
what’s the toto sitch?
Yep…Retro Toto.
This question & answer is fun! 
9 Likes
Thanks @TheCookie. Glad you got to try Cento’s new restaurant 
Too bad the pasta wasn’t piping hot 
How would you compare the pasta to Angelini?
How would you compare the pasta to Felix?
How would you compare the pasta to Colpasta?
How would you compare the pasta to Madeo when they were on Beverly?
How would you compare the pasta to Madeo when they weren’t on Beverly?
How would you compare the pasta to Il Pastaio?
How would you compare the pasta to Pasta Sisters on Thursdays?
14 Likes
@CiaoBob has sprung a leak!
6 Likes
Is Cento legendary or no?
3 Likes
were the servers, cooks, host, gm, bussers, runners, dishwashers, guests and valet all italian?
6 Likes
A bang bang with Pasta Sisters would have been perfect!
4 Likes
fantastic dinner at cento pasta bar. got ooe pasta, and it was some of the best I’ve had recently, definitely up there with the top pasta in the city. unsurprisingly, it compares very well with bestia on a thursday.
@TheCookie was right, there’s definitely a draft sitch with two doors open throughout the night, the north side wasn’t immune either, bring a jacket.
sergio
grilled octopus, romesco, potato, celery
perfectly wood grilled and charred octopus, loved the romesco sauce.
chicken liver crostino, aged balsamic, raisin agro dolce
so good 
reminded me of bestia’s
power rankings sponsored by @rlw:
squid ink mafaldine, 'nduja, prawns, serrano, basil
up there with republique’s mafaldine as one of my favorites. loved the fresh basil on top, again reminded me of bestia’s spaghetti rustichella.
avi’s amatriciana, strozzopreti, tomato, canadian bacon, sambal, fennel pollen
the crispy bacon bits on top was brilliant, and not too salty like you can sometimes get with guanciale.
spicy pomodoro, rigatoni, calabrian chili, truffle, ricotta, basil
the cool ricotta was the perfect pairing to balance out the heat.
sea urchin spaghetti, santa barbara sea urchin, persian saffron, burrata
huge sweet uni with a briny sauce
beet spaghetti, beet, brown butter, poppy, whipped ricotta, chive
this was delicious but might be a bit sweet for some people
nonna’s broccoli bucatini, garlic, pecorino, burrata, bread crumbs
saffron panna cotta, pink pepper, blood orange
rich and creamy but lightened up with the citrus on top. so good
16 Likes
Are the pasta portions about the same as they were at Cento Bar?
The spicy rigatoni similar to Carbone’s version?
the regular portions are at least double what i have pictured i.e. large. i asked for a ooe pasta omakase with smaller portions.
yes, very similar. i think i may prefer cento’s version with the ricotta topping.
i hope chef avner offers a free (or paid) bread course so you can sop up all the sauce.
3 Likes
why does this picture remind me of darth vader?
this just in, another picture from a different angle:
14 Likes
Hi @PorkyBelly
So good, right? 
Nice pics. You even captured the finishing salt on the uni! Was the pasta piping hot? Were the prawns on the menu? What did you think of the pink peppercorns on the panna cotta?
Thanks!
3 Likes
My gloves are actually dark brown.
1 Like
hi @TheCookie
Yah, so good
my pasta was in front of me seconds after being plated and never reached the heat lamps so it was still piping hot.
yep the chili prawns were on the menu and looked really good, I’ll have to try that next time.
even though I read on the menu that the panna cotta had pink peppercorns it was still a nice little surprise when i tasted it.
1 Like
Note for those thinking of going this weekend… Glad they are being so cautious.
5 Likes
We had a very uneven meal here. I thought there were some good things and bad things.
First they just opened so the uneveness with service I guess is to be semi-expected. We did however wait 30 min past our reservation time (at 9pm) and two parties that got there after us were seated before us. There was a long period where our table was actually unoccupied but they weren’t able to clean the table. We also did not receive any service for 15 min after sitting down including not having water to drink and I had to flag a server/busser to take our order. He admitted they were understaffed which is again understandable and highly apologetic, but we weren’t even able to order our food until past 950 pm so it was a bit off putting.
In terms of food highlights the warm cauliflower salad, chicken liver, and sweetbreads were very good. With the warm cauliflower being a recent favorite for a veggie dish that we’ve had dining out. Sweetbreads had a large portion and were perfectly cooked and the salad along with the charred lemon were great compliments to cut the richness of the gland. Chicken liver toast was tasty as well but I think bestias chicken liver is heads and shoulders above this version.
The suckling pig was not bad skin was crispy if not a bit over crisp and the meat was tender. If anything the gigantic portion made up for any flavor issues.
We did however not like either of the pastas they both had very strong herbal flavors that were off putting.
Squid ink pasta was over cooked and the basil over powered the dish. It also oddly had a ginger flavor.
The spicy Pomodoro, pasta itself was excellent in chew and taste. However, the sauce again had this strong ginger flavor in it which again was over powering. But it was the better of the two dishes.
Additionally, the coursing was completely haphazard they brought out the squid ink pasta first, then the salad, sweet breads, and finally the chicken liver almost simultaneously with the suckling pig and they clearly forgot the pomodoro because they asked about it and it came out last.
They did comp us each a glass of wine. The server did check on us from time to time and was really nice when he did but again service was spotty.
Pannacotta was a great palate cleanser. This restaurant has promise but I would wait until they work out the kinks.
5 Likes
Great space, and Chef Avner is a sweetheart of guy who I want to succeed.
The pasta (squid ink mafaldine, n’duja, prawns, serrano, basil) was quite tasty but came out piping lukewarm.
The Brick Pressed Half Jidori Chciken was EXCELLENT. Juicy, great pan sauce and super crispy roast potatoes and crunchy broccolini underneath. Garlic chips on top. I would return for this alone.
Wine pours were stingy for glasses north of 17 bucks per.
CHICKEN
That’s Le Carre’s second to last novel on the ipad: Agents Running in the Field…classic.
17 Likes
Not sure where else to put this…but Cento was name dropped in the article so here it is.
An Entire Neighborhood Is Being Flipped by a Los Angeles Developer
CIM owns several storefront properties in the area, including a duplex across the street from Holiday Liquor that Kuba renovated into a pasta restaurant called Cento.
1 Like
