Culina at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills

After last year’s Taste of the Nation, I vowed to go to modern Italian Culina restaurant as soon as possible.That opinion was sealed at Chefs Night Out a few weeks later and then a whole year went by. Ooops. I was reminded again how much I liked Chef Victor Casanova’s food at this year’s Taste of the Nation. I mentioned it was a favorite bite of the fest and was invited to lunch recently.

I enjoyed learning not only about Culina but also the Four Seasons. The property is situated where an old flower shop was and the owners of the flower shop now own the hotel. There are fresh flowers everywhere and beautiful landscaping. The citrus from the trees are used at the bar and herbs from the rooftop garden are also used.

Culina is not just a great hotel restaurant but a local favorite as well and Larry Flynt is a regular.

We started off with a crudo sampler from the Crudo bar, LA’s only live-actioncrudo bar. It’s Italy’s answer to a sushi bar. I really loved the yellowtail and the blood orange sauce on the salmon was quite unusual. It contrasted very well with the slight unctuousness of the salmon.

We also got some lightly marinaged veggies piccolo piatti sampler with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and beets.I really liked the artichoke hearts.

The day was really beautiful and eating vegetables and seafood was just perfect. Besides the Larry Flynt salad, we had the Panzanella with beautiful cubes of watermelon and heirloom tomato chunks. The cucumber and red onion was just the right touch for this rustic bread salad.

It’s pretty hard to pass up pasta at an Italian restaurant and I’m glad I didn’t try when we got the sweet corn ravioli and garganelli with green sauce of artichokes, asparagus, peas, spinach, fava beans and tarragon. The flavors of both burst with summer vegetables. In the Fall, Chef Victor switches to a pumpkin ravioli which I’m sure rivals the sweet corn in delicious sweetness.

I couldn’t decide which sandwich to get for lunch and decided eventually to get the Kobe meatball sub (Polpette panino). As it turned out, they accidentally made the chicken parmigiana as well. Both are very well executed and the fries are entirely too addicting. Larry Flynt may have a salad but Iwant to adopt  a sandwich or two to call my own.

We also got the branzino which came with the best arty plating. Loved the spirals of salsa verde. The Beluga lentils were perfectly done and went with the well-cooked fish.

I finally managed to skip dessert for once but of course I immediately regretted doing so. That’s all right, I plan to come back when Culina kicks off a new street food favorites menu at the bar with a new cocktail program.

I already like the look of the bar with some must-have Italian amaris on hand.

With free validated parking for lunch, Culina’s a great choice when in Beverly Hills or Mid-city. You can indulge in some extra crudo or some wonderful pasta.

Culina

Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills

300 S Doheny Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 860-4000