Description
Celestino Drago has been the king of pasta in Los Angeles since Kraft dinners were in fashion. The casual yet rigorous pan-Italian cooking at his various dining rooms helped define the way Angelenos think about Italian food, and the Drago family seems to collect restaurants - Il Pastaio, Celestino, Enoteca Drago, Panzanella, Dolce Forno, and the upcoming Drago Centro and Via Alloro among others - the way your 12-year-old brother collects baseball cards. But you will most often spot his mournful, bearded countenance at Drago, working the door, barking at a sous-chef, following a bit of roast venison or stewed boar out into the dining room as if he had shot it himself. The careful braising and sweet-and-sour flavors that are characteristic of Drago's style really come into focus when he is stuffing boned-out quail with dense sausage, cooking pheasant with mushrooms for a pasta sauce or simmering boar until it all but implodes. See full review.
