delicious japanese-italian at il chianti

Japanese-Italian food.

I never quite got the concept of Japanese-Italian until I had the delicious shoyu-sake seafood spaghetti at Akane Chaya. And the Japanese-Italian food at Il Chianti in Lomita was a bit of another mystery to me.

My girlfriends and I had dinner last week at this quaint little restaurant in the South Bay (for another great birthday celebration). From the exterior, you wouldn't know that it was warm, sophisticated and busy inside - but it was. And as we walked through the front door, friendly servers greeted us with "IRASHAIMASE!"

Small tables in the main dining area peered into the bustling kitchen behind the bar, and additional tables lined the back of the restaurant and outside in their patio area for larger crowds. And by 7:30 on that Wednesday night, pretty much all the tables were occupied.

JT recently dined there with friends in the last week or so, was familiar with the reasonably priced menu, and took the honor of ordering our meal for us.

The Squid Ink Spaghetti was deliciously rich but a bit too much liquid for my test, and was more like a squid ink soup with noodles than a pasta dish. I slurped my spaghetti like ramen, hoping not to get any of the dark squid ink on me. And bared clear of the squid chunks since I only like my squid either deep fried or in dried strips like "ika."



The Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza [pictured above] was a dish that I still crave today, it was that good. The flat, crispy artisan pizza was fresh tasting and worth every bite.

I also enjoyed the creamy, rich mushroom risotto that oozed with buttery flavor that tantalized the senses [pictured above]. I kept going for seconds, thirds, and a fourth helping - not realizing that I forgot to take its picture.

The only dish that I would definitely NOT order again was the cheesy gnocchi served with mushrooms [not pictured] that was on their specials menu (I think). It had a very pungent odor to the cheese and was NOTHING like what I had at Frascati in San Francisco. That dish was not a keeper.

After eating four different dishes (and some garlic fries from Trader Joes before dinner), I was pretty full. But the girls couldn't resist ordering Il Chianti's chocolate cake. With three forks, we demolished this rich chocolate dessert. More like a brownie or flourless cake, it was a super good ending for a great night out.

Il Chianti Los Angeles
street: 24503 Narbonne Ave Lomita, CA 90717
tel: 1.310.325.5000
web: www.il-chianti.com/il_la.html - [ in japanese ]
street parking and parking lot behind the restaurant
closed mondays