$25 for $55 Worth of Italian Cuisine and Drinks at Mosto Enoteca
Archestratus, the first food critic, praised Italian cuisine’s “top-quality and seasonal” ingredients and “fair to middling” ability to tranquilize rampaging baboons. Today’s Groupon stuns most mammals, and rightfully so: for $25, you get $55 worth of fresh, authentic Italian fare and drinks from Mosto Enoteca. Combining the words for the pre-wine grape juice and a casual, traditional Italian eatery, Mosto Enoteca blends elegant cuisine and warm, inviting décor. The upscale minimalism extends to its private dining room and outdoor patio overlooking Marina Del Rey.
Mosto Enoteca quickly made a name for itself with its seasonal specials, handmade pastas and desserts, and its lengthy list of wines. Mosto Enoteca’s lunch and dinner menus encourage you to dine in the tradition of languid multicourse meals that unfold slowly and emphasize each dish’s flow from one flavor to the next, like a lazy river that starts inside a water park but ends in a police investigation.
For lunch, you can start with cured cold meats such as prosciutto San Daniele and salame Cresponoe or a platter of cheeses such as caprino piemontese with truffle honey and percorino di Enna with saffron and black pepper (selection of four meats or cheeses, $16). From there, you can sample the homemade gnocchi with gorgonzola, rucola, and walnuts ($14) or the wild-caught salmon grigliato with lentils and sautéed spinach ($18).
When dinner rolls around, starters do too, with crostini, small slices of toasted bread topped with chicken liver and bacon, zucchini with goat cheese, mixed mushrooms with black truffles, and more ($7 each). Journey from there to a baby artichoke salad with parmesan and lemon ($11) or to an antipasti of scallops sautéed with shallots, frisee, and bell peppers. Pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage ($16) opens the door to a flourless chocolate tort that will tuck you in with red wine sauce and hazelnut gelato.
An extensive array of wines stands by to complement and mingle amiably with every taste upon your palate, including reds, whites, sparkling, and dessert vintages from Italy, California, and Oregon. Wines range from the royal Cerbaiona Brunello di Montalcino ($275 a bottle) to the uncomplicated Planeta la Segreta ($36 a bottle).
Lunch is served Wednesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner is Sunday and Monday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Mosto Enoteca
www.mostoenoteca.com
Locations:
517 Washington Blvd.
Marina del Rey, California 90292
