Eating at Officine Brera in the DTLA Arts District always transports us back to fond memories of our trip to Tuscany. The vast room, an old warehouse space (very Arts District), has a modern vibe, and a nice view of the open kitchen, including their wood-burning ovens. (You can see the wood piled up by the front door.) They make some wonderful grilled meats and fish, and one of the ovens has a big crank / pulley thing for lowering down very large roasts. But they also make some terrific pastas. George often goes for the risotto, which tonight was carnaroli superfino rice with foraged mushrooms and Moliterno al tartuffo (a sharp aged pecorino – sheep’s milk cheese – from Sardinia, with veins of black truffle). I went for a new menu item, a venison ravioli with Nebbiolo-braised red onions and arrosto sauce (gravy from the roast). The meat was deliciously dark and rich, and it took me back to a dinner I had in Monteriggioni (an ancient Tuscan walled town) – that dinner was wild boar, but similar dark rich meat and sauce. We’d started this dinner with a light summer aperitif called “the Roz”, a flute of Plymouth gin, blackberry thyme sage shrub, lemon, and prosecco. And we always start with some farinata, a Tuscan chickpea crepe that we were delighted to discover in Florence, as it’s naturally gluten-free. Here at Brera, it is nicely blistered in their wood-burning oven. (It’s not on the menu, you just have to know to ask.) There was a salad of greens, grilled nectarine, lardon bits, chanterelles, and pistachios. And for dessert, a meringue with macedonia of summer fruit including more nectarines and amarena cherries. And of course an espresso.
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