Find chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s Michelin-starred Pasta Bar (stylized as Pasta|Bar) hidden on the second floor of a sprawling Encino megaplex anchored by a California Pizza Kitchen and a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Diners are whisked into a moody bar and treated to savory canapes and an elaborate cocktail made using a Japanese cold drip tower before taking their places in the main dining room. If you’re seated in one of the 12 seats perched along a curved counter that faces an open kitchen, you have direct access to head chef DJ Nelson and his merry band of cooks as they prepare the evening’s dozen courses. There’s plenty of pasta, of course, along with homemade bread to sop up sauces and seasonal flourishes grown less than a mile away in the restaurant’s garden. Staggered seating and a head-bopping playlist make for a relaxed party atmosphere.
The team sets the right mood in an intimate dining room with just 12 diners seated side by side. The crowd of mostly elder millennials lets their collective guard down as soon as the nostalgic playlist hits — and chef Nelson starts singing along to Keith Sweat, Mary J. Blige, and even Jennifer Lopez. Cop the restaurant’s 90s-heavy playlist on Spotify.
Finding Pasta Bar can be a challenge. Take the escalators up from the ground floor of Encino Place; at the top, look straight ahead for two gold plaques — one says “Sushi / Pasta Bar,” the other directs patrons to ring the doorbell. Go ahead and ring the doorbell: you’ve arrived.
Dining and Cooking