Zach Pollack is known for shaping LA’s Italian dining scene through his former restaurants, Alimento and Cosa Buona, in Silver Lake and Echo Park, as well as for crafting elevated pizza during his earlier days at Sotto on Pico Boulevard near Beverly Hills, with former partner Steve Samson. His latest sleek Italian spot in Santa Monica is now open, generating excitement among LA’s Westside diners, who no longer need to make the trek east.
Wallpaper* dines at Cosetta, Los Angeles
The mood: a sunlit patio in Italy
Next to the industrial complex housing the small private Santa Monica airport, Pollack worked with Studio Unltd to create a ‘design that breathes’ – a spacious, sun-drenched, and welcoming space. Upon entering, the main dining room’s textured stone walls lead to a striking sequence of arched colonnades over the bar, paying homage to modern classical Italian architecture. The olive trees inside flow out onto the leafy 100-seat patio, which is encased in glass walls and features colours of earthy rust, green, and peach – suggested by Pollack – along with rounded edges that echo the building’s structure and enhance its warm features.
The food: mouth-watering pizza and Italian raw bar
Pollack is a pizza guru, so be sure to order one of the bubbly, chewy, perfectly crusted Neapolitan pies. Options range from smoked coppa ham, pineapple, and jalapeño to uni butter and Spanish clam conserva, or you can go to ‘Funghi Town’ with mushrooms, mozzarella, and fontina cheese. Be sure to save some room for the bread service, which includes focaccia – a great complement to something from the raw bar, like kampachi with Ligurian olive oil, capers, and lemon, a small plate of peel-and-eat shrimp scampi, or an Italian dumpling salad with burrata agnolotti, arugula, and Calabrian chilli crisp.
Larger plates include the fried eggplant, a thinly pounded slab that’s large enough to easily share among several people. For something lighter, try the seasonal market fish with caper-olive tartar sauce or the half lobster stuffed with creamy risotto – rich but not too filling unless you’re soaking up the bagna cauda bianca sauce with more bread (and no one would judge you for it). The chocolate peanut butter budino with crushed pretzels and whipped cream is a must for dessert.
For drinks, try the ‘Meadowlark’, made with vodka, Cosetta Meyer Limoncello, thyme, and honey, or the ‘Berlinetta’, featuring raspberry Campari, white chocolate-washed Punt e Mes Italian vermouth. And, of course, there’s always a Negroni.
Cosetta is located at 3150 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405, United States; cosettala.com
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