The 11 Best Places To Get Pasta In L.A.

Warm, delicious, chewy pasta is one of the greatest comfort foods known to humankind. As there's a chill in the air now, it's especially nice to sit down to a hearty plate of carbs and sauce, paired with a glass of wine. Here, we present some of our favorite plates for pasta around L.A. We've included a few newcomers to our picks—like Miro and Kettle Black—in addition to old favorite likes Angelini Osteria.

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Squid Ink Corzetti (Photo by Juliet Bennett Rylah/LAist)

MIROThis pan-Mediterranean eatery opened in April in downtown Los Angeles. The upstairs dining area has a casual feel, with lots of natural light from the expansive windows, and the basement has an extensive collection of hard-to-find whiskeys. Chef Gavin Mills turns out pizza, charcuterie and fresh, house-made pastas that are nothing short of incredible. They have several to choose from, but we suggest the squid Iink corzetti. Corzetti is a fresh, round pasta that typically comes with a stamp, imprinted using a wooden tool. Miro's stamp is the restaurant's own crest. Their corzetti is black as night and made with lobster, saffron and cherry tomatoes.

Miro is located at 888 Wilshire Blvd. in downtown Los Angeles, 213-988-8880.

KETTLE BLACK

Newcomer Kettle Black is a casual Italian joint that has a great happy hour where you can score a pizza and a beer or glass of wine for $15. But if you're in the mood for pasta, they have a handful of excellent selections that should do the trick. The pappardelle is a buttery pasta with plenty of mushrooms, but there's also the simple cappellini, made with parmesan broth and black peppercorn. They also have a gnocchi with braised lamb and a vibrant green agnolotti that's stuffed with zucchini pesto. We advise ordering a few pastas and passing them around the table.

Kettle Black is located at 3705 Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake, 323-641-3705.

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(Photo by Juliet Bennett Rylah/LAist)

LE PETIT PARISFrench restaurant Le Petit Paris, which occupies the old lobby of a long-gone Art Deco hotel, is gorgeous inside. Their signature pasta dish is the flambéed truffle penne. They bring out a wheel of parmesan cheese, cut in half to make what is essentially a cheese table. This is not a small amount of cheese; it's $400 worth of it. Shreds of parmesan are shaved from the surface, then lit on fire with cognac, right next to your table. Penne pasta, which has already been prepared in a cream sauce with shallots and mushrooms, is then mixed into the melty parmesan. Afterward, the dish is topped off with shaved black truffle. It isn't necessarily cheap at $45 a plate, but it's a rich treat for those looking to splurge. If you're in the mood for something a tad lighter, they also have a fine seafood linguini.

Le Petit Paris is located at 418 Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles, 213-217-4445.

CROSSROADS KITCHENNot all pasta has to be heavy. At Crossroads, you can dine on balanced, plant-based fare that includes the restaurant's impressive pasta dishes. Our favorite is their fettuccine carbonara. While carbonara traditionally contains egg, cheese and bacon, Crossroads makes their own superb version by substituting shiitake mushrooms for the bacon, and a tomato for the egg. It's not just a hunk of tomato, though. It's a yellow tomato that's been whipped with Indian black salt; when broken and spread throughout the dish, it creates the perfect texture. Additionally, Crossroads also does a bolognese with vegan veal, and a butternut squash ravioli made with oregano cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Crossroads is located at 8284 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, 323-782-9245.

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Trottole (Photo by Juliet Bennett Rylah/LAist)

LOVE & SALTThis charming Italian-Californian Manhattan Beach restaurant has several hearty, house-made pastas, but the signature item here is the trottole. As Chef Michael Fiorelli describes it, the dish includes bone-marrow toast, reconstructed in a way that entices those not familiar with the dish to give it a shot. The corkscrew-shaped pasta is flavored with roasted garlic, parsley, parmesan and cracked black pepper, but the final ingredients come to you at the table. The server will scoop the marrow out of the bone, then mix it into the dish. The end result is a flavorful pasta that serves as ideal comfort food. They also do a rabbit bolognese, a lamb pappardelle and a prosciutto and mushroom gnocchi.

Love & Salt is located at 317 Manhattan Beach Blvd. in Manhattan Beach, 310-545-5252.

CA'BREA

Once on La Brea, Ca'Brea now resides on the ground floor of the Ramada Inn on Wilshire in Koreatown. They serve up Northern Italian cuisine and, though they're open for every meal of the day, you'll find their pastas during lunch and dinner. The home-made pumpkin ravioli in walnut cream sauce is a sweet and indulgent dish, but the hearty rigatoni with eggplant, basil and ample fresh mozzarella will satisfy your cravings for more traditional pasta. They also have a regular happy hour from 5 to 10 p.m., where beer, wine and wells are $5.

Ca'Brea is located at 3900 Wilshire Blvd. in Koreatown, 323-938-2863.

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Spaghetti and meatballs with Sunday Gravy (Photo by Juliet Bennett Rylah/LAist)

KNEAD & CO./UNIONYou can go to Union in Pasadena and get a fabulous pasta—perhaps the squid ink bombolotti or the smokey pepper rigatoni—and it’ll feel like you're having a nice meal in a neighborhood restaurant. For a more on-the-go affair, however, you can also swing by Knead & Co., which is tucked inside Grand Central Market. A lot of the pasta at Union is hand-made here and cut with a variety of machines located in their busy kitchen, which you can peer into from the lunch counter. You can buy some for yourself to cook at home, or get a big to-go container so that you can eat right in the market or back at your office. Their most popular dish is the spaghetti and meatballs with Sunday gravy, though we also enjoyed their malfadine alglio olio; it's a perfectly chewy pasta, flavored with garlic, chile, lime, parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano that has just a hint of sweetness in the seasoning.

Union is located at 37 E Union St. in Pasadena, 626-795-5841. Knead & Co. is located inside Grand Central Market at 317 S Broadway in downtown L.A., 213-223-7592.

ANGELINI OSTERIA

Chef Gino Angelini's Angelini Osteria, which has long been a neighborhood favorite, serves old-school, casual Italian fare. They've recently opened a new, lunch-focused restaurant next-door—Angelini Alimentari—that's great for when you want a cup of soup, a sandwich or gelato. But for pasta, it's still Osteria. They offer a pumpkin-stuffed tortelli, and a popular green lasagna made with spinach pasta, besciamella, beef and veal ragu. A favorite dish is the tagliolini al limone that comes with lemon, cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano and basil.

Angelini Osteria is located at 7313 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles, 323-297-0070.

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Pappardelle al Fumo (Photo by Juliet Bennett Rylah/LAist)

OSTERIA MAMAThis place can be crowded, and it's often shadowed by nearby Osteria La Buca (which, of course, is a fine place for pasta, too). But if you don't mind the din of your fellow diners, stop by for a glass of wine and a robust pasta dish. We like the smoky pappardelle al fumo: pink sauce, guanciale, smoked Scamorza cheese and oregano. They don’t scrimp on the guanciale, and the flavor is unique. There's also over a dozen pastas to be found on the menu.

Osteria Mama is located at 5732 Melrose Ave. in , 323-284-7060.

FRITTO MISTO

Cute and casual Fritto Misto offer house-made pastas dishes with plenty of vegetarian options, like the mushroom jalapeno ravioli, veggie lasagna and the goat cheese lemon pepper fettuccine. Carnivores might prefer their spicy atomic pasta made with Cajun chicken, or perhaps the chicken cilantro ravioli. If you're more of a DIY sort, you can also build your own from a detailed menu where you may choose your pasta, sauce, vegetables, meats and cheeses. It's also BYOB, so you can bring along your own beer or wine for a $2.50/person corkage fee.

Fritto Misto is located at 601 Colorado Ave. in Santa Monica, 310-458-2829; 316 Pier Ave. in Hermosa Beach, 310-318-6098.

FORMA

Consider Forma if you're on the Westside and looking for pasta cooked in a bowl of cheese. A forma is what these cheese wheels are called, and dalla forma refers to when a dish is completed by being cooked within the wheel. They have a handful of pasta dishes that incorporate this method, on top of their other pasta offerings. Their chitarra is tossed in pecorina romano, while their mushroom tortellini is tossed in bella lodi. They also have a cheese bar, so Forma is your spot if dairy is your thing.

Forma is located at 1610 Montana Ave. in Santa Monica, 424-231-2868.

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Pesto Gnocchi (Photo via Pasta Sisters)

PASTA SISTERSPasta Sisters closes fairly early, but if you're doing an early dinner or lunch, it's a great place to get affordable, fresh pasta made with organic Italian flour, organic eggs and Italian extra-virgin olive oil. Many of the dishes, including their meat lasagna, are under $10. The shop is run by Paola Da Re, who grew up in Northern Italy, where she and her older sisters helped their grandmother in the kitchen.

Pasta Sisters is located at 3343 West Pico Blvd. in MId-City, 323-870-5271.