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Sitting on Main Street in Downtown Culver City, Novecento is a cozy little Italian joint you could easily overlook. I was walking by with mom on one of our ventures out to the local Indian spices shop when she noticed it and took a liking to the decor, so I took the parental units there on a friday night.
Indeed, it's a lovely place inside, warmly lit (dim) and cozy, but it's the food that stood out to me.
To start us off I ordered the Bruschetta Montebianco: Tomato, basil, EVOO, goat cheese on grilled garlic bread. This was fantastic and really kicked things off for me. I'm a huge fan of both basil and goat cheese, and everything was so fresh and perfectly put together. I loved it and my parents were impressed as well.
Next up we had the Rigatoni Maddalena. Plain and simple: It's Bacon, Mushroom and pasta tubes in white Alfredo sauce. It's so good, I'm gonna categorize it as comfort food. Rich alfredo sauce, chunks of bacon, plus perfectly cooked pasta, very pleasing.
We also got the Pollo al Limone e Capperi. Chicken breast in veal sauce and lemon juice with capers. The sauce is tangy and had great flavor, but chicken breasts tends to be on the bland side and so it lacked the punch a "bad for you" dish like the bacon pasta would have carried. I suppose this could be considered as a healthier dish.
This is the Ravioli della Nonna, Ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach soaking happily in marinara sauce with basil, vodka and cream. It might not look spectacular, but this was really tasty as well, the ingredients are definitely fresh and I love the feeling of eating food freshly handmade in the kitchen not 20 feet away.
The atmosphere is relaxed, rustic and cozy. The service was very attentive and our friendly waitress was very helpful in making recommendations and explaining all these foreign dishes to me. Downtown Culver City is lovely and happenin' at night with a good variety of restaurants, bars and theaters. There's also free 2-hour parking a couple blocks over on Watseka Ave.
Novecento Pasta & Grill
3837 Main St.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 842-3838
Photos by Kevin Cheng for LAist
