DTLA: Pasta Lunch at Officine Brera

I finally made it over to the Italian restaurant, Officine Brera, after it’s been open for about a year now. It’s right around the corner from their sister restaurant, Factory Kitchen in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles.

I loved how open and airy the restaurant was. We sat in the far corner and were able to observe everyone coming and going from the space.

The two of us had a couple of appetizers to start. My lunch dining partner chose the seared beef carpaccio and I had the tuna salad.

The beef was really good. I love medium rare steak and this is just about right.

 

The tuna salad reminded me a bit of a Nicoise salad, but Italian of course. The green beans were crisp and I loved the tiny fried quail egg on it. There were plenty of the tuna. This could actually be a meal in itself.

 

While sometimes I think I can give up meat, I can never give up seafood. I went for the seafood studded pappardelle. The mussels, clams and bits of squid made my afternoon. It had a very fine sauce as well. The noodles were very tender and I liked that they were cut up in min squares. Sometimes I find pappardelle to be unwieldy but these perfect bites.

 

My lunch dining partner had the pasta with goose sugo. I loved that they were so generous with the goose. The little bit of sprouts gave the dish a fresh punch as well.

 

 

Can you leave without dessert? Nope, and do try the doughnuts with the bourbon and caramel sauce. These were denser than I expected so a couple small doughnuts pushed me over the edge and got me ready for a good weekend.

Officine Brera

1331 E 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90021  —  (213) 553-8006

© The Minty 2017