Jon & Vinnys
Going down to West Hollywood for a dinner at 7 from Venice is a traffic nightmare so you need to leave serious time to get there. That is the one major drag in LA. The conversation in the car was “it better be good”. Jon & Vinnys was fantastic and I’d make the journey again. They also do breakfast and lunch so there are other options for perhaps less traffic.
A long restaurant with booths that sit above the fray and across from the open kitchen and bar seats. There is more seating in the back. Not a big place.
These pizza boxes covered the wall above the kitchen.
I love the placemats. They were all a bit different. Pizza, pasta, etc.
We started with sugar snap peas covered with a pickled ramp ranch dressing.
A fresh peppery arugula salad covered with shaved parm and mixed with lemon and olive oil. This is one of my all time favorites. Just simply delicious.
Bucatini, cacio de pepe with pecorino romano. Cream and pepper. Super rich and absolutely delicious.
Marinara braised meatballs with ricotta. Just how I like them.
Spicy fusilli vodka sauce with basil and parm. Another winner.
LA Woman pizza. Just like everything else we ate, simple and excellent. I am absolutely recreating this at home. Tomato sauce with olive oil and sea salt and a scoop of burrata on every slice with a basil leaf on the top. Wow.
We went simple for dessert. Chocolate vanilla swirl.
After dinner we crossed the street to go to Canter’s to pick up some deli supplies for the next day. The last time I was in there was decades ago. The place has gone seriously downhill. Not even good deli. So insanely disappointing. Alas.
Canters – never again. Jon & Vinnys – return!
Comments (Archived):
I went to Jon and Vinny’s for breakfast last year and their breakfast pizza was incredible (along with everything else we had). At one point, I was standing up looking around for a server to ask for more water and Vinny (who was working on a computer at the table behind us) stood up, asked me what I needed and grabbed the water for me. I had a trip planned for my first visit to Montreal the following week and asked Vinny for his favorite bar and restaurant recommendations and he sat down and wrote out 15 places that I needed to check out. All the ones I went to were fantastic.By the way, have you eaten at their restaurant across the street, Animal, before? That place is incredible.
Need to get to Animal before we leave.
Have had that pizza at Macelo’s in Chicago. Made me want to put a brick wood fired pizza oven in the next place I get.
Hm, wonder if Gary (of Canter’s) is consumed with the Las Vegas location (no excuse). We’ve known each other since we were teens so I’ll try to let him know your thoughts. True about the traffic; fled LA as a young adult once I learned life in other cities included some public transport. Always enjoy your blog; keep up the great conversation. Ella
Canter’s is truly gross.
So sorry to hear about Cantor’s which I went to many years ago J
thanks for the street shots. it’s a good visual narrative.
I’m on it
Interesting about Cantors, I wonder what happened there.My “best deli” story is this. I was newly engaged to my first wife (late 80’s).Her “rich uncle” lived on the lower east side in some rent controlled building. (At the time my thought was “where’s the rich?”). Anyway he takes us to 2nd Avenue deli where his picture was on the wall (a big bragging point). He was well known there (like eat everyday or whatever) My ex wife was sold on the fact that he was some kind of celebrity and kept telling me how great this deli was.We sit down at a table and after studying the menu I say to the waiter “I know you have it but I don’t see it” (and I describe a reuben sandwich [1]. He looks at me with the biggest wise cracking, new yorker “what are you some kind of schmuck!” look that I remember to this day. [1] Milk and meat; non kosher sandwich in a kosher restaurant a no no..
Nate N’ Als is our go-to. We bring their seeded rye, thinly sliced back to NY every time.
i love Nate ‘n Al’s!!