Valentine’s Day Celebration – Bestia Restaurant in L.A.

We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day celebration. This is our last Vday as a family of two and Chris gave me a very sweet card, in which he signed it from him and baby :),  so cute.

Valentine’s was celebrated during the whole week, and I was happy to be surrounded by pretty things, love and lots of chocolate.

Our celebration started last Tuesday night. It was nice to have a day off of work and we were able to drive up to L.A. and check out a new Italian restaurant called Bestia. Whenever we dine out, we usually stay around OC, so it was a big deal for us to go to L.A. and celebrate.  The restaurant is located in a warehouse location, and we were surprised to find the place pack for a weeknight.

I started off with an off-menu refreshing drink that the bartender made for me. It had cucumber, lime and ginger juice. It was everything but the gin.

We were on a double date with friends, so we decided to share all the food, family style.  We started off with several appetizers. The serving size are not too big so as a party of four, we were able to enjoy four appetizers.

Appetizers

We had the appetizers above, clockwise –>Batillarda di Salumi Nostrano (house made, chef’s selection of cured meats. traditional condiments. grilled bread).  Midollo al Forno a Legna (roasted marrow bone. porcini breadcrumbs. gnoccehtti. aged balsamico). Crostino con il Cuore di Manzo (beef heart tartare. toast. mint. fresno chili. shallot. champagne vinaigrette).  Octopus dish.

My favorite would be the green pasta that was served with the roasted marrow bone.

Bestia’s menu is seasonal and is subject to change. Everything I ate tasted fresh and you can tell that they were made with quality ingredients.

Entrees

Clockwise –> Pizza ‘Nduja (house made spicy ‘nduja. san marzano tomatoes. mozzarella. scallions) Agnolotti (stuffed pasta with braised beef cheeks.  burro fuso. grana padano) Spaghetti Bottarghe  (spaghetti mancini. squid ink & mullet bottarga. garlic. calabrian chilis. parsley. bread crumbs).  Cavatelli alla Norcina  (ricotta cavatelli. house made, pork sausage. black truffles. grana padano).

I was really looking forward to trying the truffle pizza, but they were out by the time we ordered our entree. My favorite of the entrees we ordered was the Cavatelli alla Norcina, the sauce was delicious, not too thick and was packed with flavor. The sausage was fresh tasting and the pasta, the right texture.

I made sure to save room for dessert, so I didn’t eat all of my pizza and took home half of it.

Desserts

Zeppole di Castagne con Gelato al Caffè Latte
chestnut doughnuts. softly whipped cream. coffee gelato.

My favorite of the two desserts we ordered was the chocolate tart below. It was light and not too sweet, and I loved the salted caramel and sea salt combination.

Crostata al Cioccolato e Caramello Salato
cacao crust. bittersweet chocolate budino. salted caramel. olive oil. sea salt.

 It was a rare and wonderful night out with the hubby and friends and a lovely early Valentine’s Day dinner.

I’m not sure when we will be back for a night out in L.A. but I will definitely go back to Bestia to try the rest of the menu. Maybe I can finally have the truffle pizza I was craving for.

The restaurant was packed and I can see why, not only are the food unique, but they are delicious.  I don’t think I can replicate any of the dishes at home (which is what I usually try to do if I love certain dishes while when we dine out) because 1.) I don’t have access to the ingredients that the restaurant uses and  2.) I’m not that good of a chef.

*****

On Thursday, we had a client event at work so I was able to celebrate Valentine’s day all day.

We gave flowers out and I was in charged on tying up the bouquets.

The beautiful candy buffet for the clients was tempting me all day but I tried to ignore it as I’ve already had plenty of sweets for the week.

The lunch that was served was also Valentine’s day themed. Our chef served a dish that was called engagement chicken and the dessert was the flourless chocolate cake below. Rich, dense, mildly sweet and just perfect for me.

Me and the baby were happy. Baby bump snapshot at 35 weeks.

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day last week. Whether you celebrate it or not, I hope you were surrounded by love and beautiful things that day.