Valentino Restaurant

Everybody's favorite Italian restaurants tend to serve perfected country dishes, rustic vegetables and grilled meats that replicate what a gifted grandmother might prepare for dinner in her Umbrian fireplace. But no grandmother is ever going to arrange dense slivers of smoked eel from Lake Garda into a still life, or scent marinated yellowtail with a few drops of basil oil and seabottom-pungent shavings of dried mullet roe, or stuff agnolotti with wild boar and garnish it with cured pig cheek and fiasco-simmered beans. Valentino has always been one of the most controversial restaurants in Los Angeles, loved by foodies who claim to have eaten the best meals of their lives in the dimly lit dining room and loathed by people who claim that the restaurant is a con job. It can be difficult to coax the best from Valentino. But when the cooking is up to the level of owner Piero Selvaggio's massive wine list, the $70-$75 tasting menu (and you're missing the point if you order anything else) seems almost reasonable.

• Cuisine(s): Italian, Pizza, Wine Bar

  Hours: Tue-Sat 5pm-10:30pm, Fri 11:30am-2:30pm

  Price: $$

  Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards

• Attire: Casual

  Features: Takeout, Private Party, Catering

  Serving: Dinner

  Alcohol: Full bar

• Reservations: Accepted, Not Necessary

  Parking: Street, Valet