Well, look who made the 90 minute drive from his place to have lunch with Sharky, Akemi and me yesterday.  Yes, former Stargate writer/producer Carl Binder joined us for an Italian feast and chat.  It was great to catch up with him.

Since Drea requested more food pics, here are a few of the dishes we ordered on the day…

By far the best thing we had was the burrata with beets.  We were tempted to order seconds.

The pinsa (oval-shaped flatbread pizza), half pepperoni and half margherita, was fine.

The pasta trio were not winners.  The parpardelle with ox-tail ragu was okay for this Italian, but the the short rib tortellini and cacio e pepe were intensely cheesy.  Akemi had to tap out after a single bite.  I can do strong cheese but these were overwhelming, even for me.

For dessert, a standard tiramisu and chocolate tart, and two fantastic homemade gelatos – pistachio and hazelnut.

I’ll be honest with you.  To date, the L.A. restaurants have been pretty disappointing, dining in AND take-out.  With the exception of a fantastic fried mortadella sandwich, the sandwiches here are bland, the accompanying bread uniformly tough chews and swallows.  I picked up a bottle of Truff hot sauce in the hopes that will help things go down.

Also, retail personnel are generally miserable all around here with the exception of the staff at Trader Joe’s who are atypically upbeat and friendly.  I suspect they must all come in from Orange County.