Cosetta, a newish Cal-Italian restaurant from chef Zach Pollack of Alimento fame, beckons from a sparsely occupied business park off Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica. Don’t let its humdrum location fool you: This is a neighborhood restaurant through and through, with droves of locals already embracing its relaxed string-light-lit patio and crowd-pleasing menu. The dish lineup merges the easy seasonality of Alimento with the nostalgic Italian-American riffs that made Pollack’s Cosa Buona a bona fide hit in Echo Park. Still, the whole thing feels new enough to Westsiders to be inviting.
Millennial pink and red accents, sage green chairs, and blondewood tables abound. This is truly a take-anyone restaurant — friends, loved ones, out-of-towners who think Santa Monica is only the beach and need to be taught otherwise. Kids will get loud over blistered pizzas and the restaurant staff will gamely tolerate them.
You’ll feel better about being in the deepest recesses of Santa Monica when you realize parking in the nicely sized lot is validated.
Dining and Cooking