Beloved Italian restaurant opens neighborhood café
GINO RINDONE and Elizabeth Angelini at Angelini Alimentari Italian cafe.
Gino Angelini’s superb Italian trattoria, Angelini Osteria, has been favored by locals and destination diners for 15 years. What better way to celebrate that milestone anniversary than to open another restaurant next door? Owners Gino and Elizabeth Angelini partnered with their longtime maitre d’ Gino Rindone and created Angelini Alimentari, an ode to the authentic Italian neighborhood cafe, a place to drop in for espresso and a pastry before work. “There’s a tradition in Italy, to go to the same cafe every morning and run into friends,” explains Elizabeth. “That social aspect is what we hope for here, not just a place for gourmet food.”
This newly opened country kitchen-style breakfast and lunch place has the same attention to simple ingredients as the Osteria, using impeccably sourced, artisanal imported Italian salumi, organic chicken and free-range eggs. Chef Antonio Felipe’s early favorites are the $9.50 uova in purgatorio (eggs baked with cherry tomatoes and spicy andouille sausage) and the classic vitello tonnato (veal in tuna sauce), here served as a sandwich for $12. But their secret weapon, what could very well be the menu item that rocks the block, is their $6 warm gelato panini: homemade gelato on a brioche bun. They always have the classic flavors, such as vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio, but have specials and sorbetto, too. Angelini Alimentari can be dine-in (including patio seating), to go, or curbside pick up, but Elizabeth thinks gelato should be enjoyed as take away, “There’s nothing nicer than having gelato outdoors, enjoyed standing on the sidewalk outside, talking with friends.”
Angelini Alimentari is open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There’s free parking in the back until 11 a.m. and two spaces for pick-up orders all day. True to their name (Alimentari means “grocery” or “foodstuffs,”) they also sell jars of four of the Osteria’s most popular pasta sauces, including limone and amatriciana, for $9.99 each.
They are perfecting their daytime menu now, but would like a liquor license and might expand to casual dinners some day.
Angelini Alimentari, 7317 Beverly Blvd., 323-297-0070, angelinialimentari.com.
By Helene Seifer
Category: Entertainment
