When I first moved to LA I lived in Melrose, walked past Jon & Vinny’s and knew it was somewhere I needed to eat. Then we had a whole thing of trying to go while Jax was in town and not being able to get a table (yes, very LA), and being tormented on social media by people putting their yummy pictures up. So, in the end, I decided to not go until Jax was here. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long 🥰🥰
It’s not a huge place, but tucked in the back is Helen’s, a teeny wine shop,with a great selection of wine. Everything in there can be take away or drunk in the restaurant. NOT, however, as our hostess described it, drink really cheaply in the restaurant with bottle shop prices. What I WISH they did is like the Sager & Wild in Shoreditch and have a fixed price mark up on all wine (they do £20) so the more expensive your wine, the better your deal.
The food was everything we wanted it to be, and by that I mean DELICIOUS!!! As per usual, we ordered generously, but not as generously as we could have, as everyone was sick 😦 Unfortunately, the lighting left me with very pink photos. I hate doing flash photography in a restaurant (very douchey) but I did for some anyway 😞
We did a selection of the bruschetta to start. It’s one of those things that I really, really love and they use Gjusta bread (yum)! I’m pretty sure we got the standard bruschetta, the ricotta & orange blossom one & the avocado. They’re seriously all good.
The meatballs! Yum! I love meatballs! These were good, nice and juicy, a great sauce and these thick pieces of foccaccia for mopping up your sauce.
Of course, we grabbed some veggies. You knew we would 😁. Broccolini with a chili vignette, very tasty. I honestly can’t remember we what the other ones were, but they were good.
Pasta: you can’t, not order pasta in an Italian. Even if everyone is sick and not that hungry 😂😂 We couldn’t go past the Bolognese. There is nothing better than a good bog and this is a simmered for 6 hours one! You want to eat it, trust me. Also, we tried one of the specials which was creamy with mushrooms & wine and yuminess. The pasta in general, is cooked really well. Not overwhelmed by American-ness – you know what I mean? Not too rich, light but flavoursone, cooked al dente and not loaded full of cheese.
Pizza: as you know, I love me so pizza! As expected, Jon & Vinny deliver great ones AND they have good names. We got the ham & yeezy (I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to not order that their first time) which is a ham & vodka sauce with smoked mozzarella. LA woman a simple sauce and burrata one as most of us are obsessed with burrata. As well as a classic meat eaters called the Roman Gladiator. I need a lot more research for determining my favourite LA pizza, but these guys are definitely a contender.
So even though Jon & Vinny’s is annoyingly hard to get a table, it is worth the pre-planning for a reservation. Plus they have one in Brentwood now that must make it easier than it was.
Jilltopia 