Bestia: Perfectly Grilled Squid, Excellent Bread and Unusual Pastas and Pizzas

I had the privilege of trying Bestia, a new Italian hot spot just east of Downtown in the industrial area, with a large group and one of the investors of the place. So not only did we get to try pretty much everything on the menu, but we also got VIP treatment and got things off the menu like a monumental braised oxtail that I'll talk about later.

The octopus and bread were probably some of the best things we had.The octopus was perfectly grilled over a bed of lentils and drizzled with what tasted like a garlic and parsley sauce. The octopus was soft and not at all rubbery and almost sweet in its flavor. The grilled octopus made a great combo with the lentils that had a stew-ish consistency.

The bread that came with the house-cured meats was excellent. Hard crust but soft and substantial enough. Warm and dipped in some olive oil and garlic mix. I am a cured meats fiend like no other so liked the prosciutto, coppa and other cured meats on the tray well enough but I must say, they weren't as good as the cold cuts plate I had in Bologna in 2010.  I still dream about the array of cold cuts and cheeses available in Italy... While it won't replace that experience, it certainly was a rarity to get such a spread in LA. And that bread...

 

The meatballs were nothing special but maybe that had to do with the fact that I'm not a huge meatball fan. It was charred nicely on the outside and soft on the inside but it didn't stand out among the million things we had.

We had a few pizzas including the Margherita, which was definitely above average. Those of you who have been following my blog may know that Margherita is the gauge with which I judge pizza joints so it passed with flying colors. We also had Pizza 'Nudja, which had this eponymous Italian sausage I don't think I've ever had before. It tasted like finely minced salami that were made into little balls and sprinkled atop this pizza and then sizzled into its charred goodness (just on top) in the oven. I usually don't even like pepperoni or sausage on my pizza but this was an interesting take. Another unusual pizza was the brussels sprouts with ricotta that I also never had before and liked.

Now about the crust: I liked it. It was thin and bubbly on the edges and could hold the toppings in the middle. Maybe it's because it took a while to make it down to my side of the large 12-person party table, but the crust got soggy quickly. But the crust was definitely at the Mozza level.

We had at least four pasta dishes and like with pizza, there were some unusual combinations and ingredients like chestnut pasta. The Cavatelli alla Norcina is the ricotta-based pasta that looks like little shells (kind of like silk worms or bbeondaegi sold in the streets of Seoul) that came with lumps of sausages, tiny bits of black truffles and some grana padano cheese. Not being a huge fan of Italian sausage, this wasn't my favorite but points for introducing me to a new pasta shape.

The hand-rolled fusilli with braised goat and pistachio oil was another interesting combination. This pasta was topped with house-made ricotta salata, which is basically hard ricotta that is usually shaved into your salad or pasta. I also found a deep lime green, finely grated pistachio atop the bright white cheese, which was a nice contrast. I love braised meats so this was probably one of the more comforting dishes.

This one was bucatini (fatter tube-like spaghetti with a hole) with some bread crumbs and sea urchin. I actually have had uni in pasta at some of the Japanese-style Italian joints like Blue Marlin on Sawtelle and Spoon House in the South Bay. And I never liked them much, and this version was no exception. It wasn't that the sea urchin wasn't fresh. It was. I just didn't love the flavor. It's not you it's me.

Before

Now for the piece de resistance. When this majestic oxtail -- and I mean gigantic, 12+-inch, whole oxtail in all its slow-cooked, melt-in-your-mouth glory -- arrived at our table, the party couldn't help but be in awe of its sheer size and beauty. Oh, and the fact that we had never seen an oxtail presented this way. The plate also included roasted veggies like baby carrots, potatoes, parsnips and onions to name a few. It truly looked like a work of art. The roasting brought out the best out of these roots vegetables -- soft, sweet and slightly browned on top. Some in our party were fighting for the last baby carrot.

Devouring

The oxtail was extremely tender and came off the bone easily. The flavor was good but maybe I associated oxtail with the Korean dish I always make at dinner parties, kkorijjim, that has pretty strong flavors like garlic, soy sauce, etc. Anyway, I loved the texture of this oxtail and it was cool tearing it apart as a whole tail. Ok, I'll stop gushing about the wholeness thing.

After

I only wished the flavor of the oxtail were a bit more pronounced. More garlic or more salt. It's not like the chefs were shy about using salt in other dishes (in fact, some were a tad salty but I like salty so it was fine) so I wasn't sure why they had somewhat held back with this one. This was off the menu, by the way. Perks of going with an insider! Still, we didn't have too much trouble totaling it, as you can see.

Time for dessert. Our servers were nice enough to wait a while until giving us our final course since we had had like half of the items on the menu. Disclaimer: I don't think I could objectively review the desserts because I was so ridiculously full. The chestnut donuts that came with the coffee gelato would have probably been my favorite, since I dream of fancy donuts all the time and in fact, I had some a few days later at Waterloo & City (post coming soon). These chestnut donuts were fluffy and good but like I said, it was somewhat of a blur past the oxtail.

How gorgeous does this set up look? But it was too much, even for gluttonous me.

I may not remember much about the desserts but I do recall this creamy, persimmon and pistachio concoction that I found to be yet another original take on plain old dessert (not that there's anything wrong with classics). The persimmon slices were like sweet like candy and soft like ice cream except they weren't cold.

The creme fraiche panna cotta was good but again, I'm not a huge panna cotta person so don't want to bias you. I much prefer creme brulee, gelato or flan. I always feel like there's something missing with panna cotta, either the sugary crust (creme brulee), cold temperature (gelato) or the caramel sauce (flan).

I really liked the industrial space and will definitely return to try other interesting pastas and pizzas. I went on a Wednesday evening but it was positively hopping. Apparently the wait is eternal on weekends and it's hard to imagine it more crowded than it was when we went. Service was solid.

Special thanks to CC for generously inviting all of us and to CTG for taking amazing pictures!