Santa Monica: Pizza and More at O+O Sicilian Kitchen

 

O+O Sicilian Kitchen opened in Santa Monica at the end of last year. Right by the ocean, you can find great pizza, appetizers and creative drinks.

 

 

 

The list sticks with a lot of traditional Italian spirits and liqueurs (plus amari!) but the drinks have a lot of California fun in them. Although not as slushy as a frozen daiquiri, the Rossini with strawberries and Prosecco is just perfect for our warm days and nights.

 

Rossini – strawberries, Prosecco

 

To start our meal, we got the fried olives which come with aioli. I enjoyed these as a guilty pleasure as I’m sure I’m the one that finished most of them.

 

 

I probably didn’t need to order meatballs but we did. These classic meatballs come three per order. You can also try the pork meatballs or chicken and mushroom meatballs. Did I eat two of the three? Yes, yes, I did. Maybe I’ll try the pork ones next time.

 

I love, love, love Cynar. The artichoke liqueur is featured in this hibiscus drink with blood oranges and Prosecco (of course, bella!).

The Mistaken – Cynar, hibiscus, blood orange, Prosecco

 

 

Gotta love a fresh salad! This one featured blood oranges and a nice vinaigrette.

 

For a while I was eating every eggplant parm I could find around town. O+O does a great one.

We also got the mortadella and pistachio pizza (shown above). I love, love, love mortadella (did I mention I really like Italian food?). I was really torn about which pizza to get but decided I had get the pistachio since it features my favorite cured Italian meat, mortadella. The Capricciosa with ham, egg and mushroom also sounds really good.

 

I really wanted to take a red sharpie to this drink name. The bro humor behind Where’s My Nuts (should it be Where are my nuts?) mixes rum and Campari which is not a bad combo. In fact, one of my favorite Campari drinks uses rum as its spirit base. However, I think this might need a little retooling (no pun intended).

Where’s My Nuts – Sailor Jerry rum, Campari, pineapple, almond

 

 

 

The squid ink linguine came with an amazing amount of seafood including a ton of clams, mussels and massive prawn! Look at that thing with its feet waving proudly.

 

 

My favorite drink on the list was the La Matcha Vita with matcha and mezcal. It’s so refreshing.

La Matcha Vita – mezcal, matcha, mint, ginger, lemon

 

 

O+O is already a neighborhood favorite. I like the casual vibe and it’s just far away from the Promenade that you can relax. However, it is close enough that you can jog over in a jiffy.

 

O+O Sicilian Kitchen and Bar

1705 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90401

© The Minty 2017