Maxmiliano: Brunch and patio coming soon to Highland Park's new Italian hideout

Herbs for the cooks are grown on the patio, which will soon be open for diners

Highland Park residents were long overdue for an alternative to Good Girl Dinette, the York and the old-school Mexican choices, and with the arrival of Andre Guerrero's casual, lively Maxmiliano, the restaurant scene has taken a huge step forward. It can be hard to find an Italian restaurant that doesn't have the same menu as every other one, but Guerrero is keeping things interesting with a large selection of appetizers and salads, several creative pizzas, a clutch of excellent homemade pastas and a handful of carefully-wrought mains. The Oinkster and former Max owner treated us to a tasting of all these dishes but we would have been happy to pay, since everything far exceeded expectations.

The room is casual with a green-lit wall above the open kitchen, a tiled pizza oven, a communal table in the middle and abstract strands of spaghetti on a red wall.

Among the pastas we tasted were cavatelli in a creamy mushroom sauce; tagliatelle in a meaty bolognese; and chicken ravioli with mushrooms. My favorite was angel hair pasta, with a porky, spicy amatriciana sauce packed with pancetta and jalapenos. Roasted beets were simple and satisfying with crumbled ricotta, and the market salad was elevated with several varieties of peeled cherry tomatoes. In just two weeks, news of the thick, juicy pork chop has already gotten around, so it sold out early Friday before we could order one. So instead we tried the chicken entree -- the bird doesn't get much love in restaurants, since people think of it as home cooking, but I would be hard-pressed to create a breast as moist as Maximiliano's, with olive oil-slicked spinach and a savory jus and crispy skin. Guerrero thinks restaurants, especially those with wood-fired ovens, tend to overcook their pizza so Maximiliano's pizza is more supple than crispy, with browned slices of garlic and potato on one memorable version. Matt proclaimed the cannoli ideal; I'm just not enough of an East Coaster to judge. What I did like: the affordable wines available in quartinos as well as glasses and bottles, the selection of local Craftsman beers, and the fact that all dishes are under $18. In a few more weeks, Guerrero plans to put tables and more edible plantings on the large rear patio and open for brunch. I'll certainly be back to try the coconut-lavender ice cream grown from the patio box's lavender, the cavatelli with pancetta and squid, and of course the pork chop.  

Maximiliano

5930 York Blvd.

Highland Park

323-739-6125

Naya: New look, new name, same Tantra chef

Naya's dining area goes white-on-white

 Most restaurants could use a little freshening up every few years, and after 10 years as Tantra, the Sunset Junction Indian spot has gotten a re-do as Naya. Naya's grand opening is on Monday. We stopped by for the preview night and saw that the menu is similar to Tantra -- same coconut prawns, for example -- but with more "fusion" touches like a curried goat cheese medallion salad and lemon chili scallops with pomegranate chutney and black rice.
Spacecraft's Kristofer Keith has given the space a total makeover, swapping the dining room and lounge areas and swathing the dining room in billowing white curtains with white booths. Meanwhile, the new lounge has a more gothic look, with Moroccan/Indian carved wood arches and a marble bar. In back, a large tiled patio has been added with built-in fireplaces soon to come.
 
Still to determine: If Naya will become a place for locals to stop by for a drink and a lamb kabob (specialty cocktails like the Hot Yogi and the Buddha's Bed are $12).
Naya
3705 Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake

Tijuana: Six places you must go now

When a dozen or more food writers descend on a town for the same event, there's sure to be plenty of write-ups on the highlights. Dave Lieberman pointed out 5 Products You Didn't Know Came from Baja in the OC Weekly, while Javier, aka The Glutster, took readers course by course through the special Mision 19 Baja Culinary Fest dinner with Javier Plascencia and John Sedlar. So EatingLA highlights a quick list of places to hit when you go to Tijuana, whether as a day trip or part of a drive to Ensenada or beyond. And yes, you must go, because the seafood is a wonder of impossible-to-find ocean beasts, while the tacos and other local specialties (from cheese to venison) are different than anything you will taste in L.A. (Addresses are on the linked blogs.)
Caesar's Restaurant: You can't miss this Tijuana landmark on the Avenue Revolucion. While the avenue has seen better days, the restaurant has been lovingly restored under the ownership of local restaurant magnate and chef Plascencia. Get a Caesar salad prepared tableside (yes, they were invented here), some tapas like fried sardines, and a classic cocktail or a margarita, and pretend you're Julia Child enjoying the prohibition-era atmosphere in Tijuana.

 
Cebicheria Erizo: Plascencia's latest creation is his most modern and stylish -- Erizo is a casual seafood restaurant and market specializing in the things that can't readily be found north of the border: Chocolate and Pismo clams, farmed abalone, Geoduck clams (above), oysters, local shrimp, squid and tuna and much more.

We sampled scallop ceviche decadently topped with a hefty shard of chicharron (here's FoodGPS's Dose of Vitamin P), tempura salicornia (sea asparagus, above), a simple but artfully-flavored tuna tostada, octopus tacos and a shooter of the restaurant's namesake erizo or sea urchin.
 
Asadero Baja Sonora: Thanks to StreetgourmetLA, we've tried several excellent places for carne asada tacos, which I've only truly come to obsess over in the last 10 years since I've been eating beef more frequently. Sonoran-style beef dishes are some of the best, and we tried the a slick new outpost of one of these fine taco spots. Located on the large Agua Caliente Blvd., Asadero Baja Sonora looked more like a Pollo Loco inside, but the large menu of parrilladas (full meals of grilled meats) and tacos shows how seriously this places takes its cow. Try the tacos with cactus or chiles, and the arrachera, a higher quality cut than the basic beef. The above link to StreetGourmet's blog also describes a trip to the highly-recommended Sonora Mia, a steakhouse with some other fine regional dishes.

Tacos Salceados: While it's true that Tacos Salceados is now under new management, and the new management has an awfully heavy hand with the mayo sauce, this innovative taqueria (also known as Tacos La Ermita, for the street where it's located), is still a must for the quesotaco made from a cheese crisp enfolding shrimp, a sweet and savory pineapple taco with strawberry sauce; and salsas like almond and tamarind.
 
El Matazeno: We had tried the signature spicy shrimp enchilado and smoked marlin tacos before, so this time in Tijuana we branched out to try the octopus, chicharron (fried fish skin), simple shrimp in butter sauce and the enormous Perron or "badass" taco with shrimp enchilado, chicharron and cheese. But don't stop at seafood tacos -- the bustling restaurant also serves seafood soups, coctels and tostadas. It's not in the most central neighborhood, but a cab driver or GPS should be able to find it.

Tepoznieves Ice Cream: This gourmet ice cream shop has two Tijuana locations, and I got to sample their nieves again at the first Baja Culinary Fest. What it lacks in rich creaminess, this ice cream makes up for in imaginative flavors and sheer variety. I ordered a combo of chile tamarind sorbet and "Beso de Cencienta," (Cinderella Kiss) which combined cream, cheese, honey and marmalade. I topped it with a fiery red homemade chile lime sauce similar to chamoy that turned the ice cream into a salty, spicy, sour, frozen, cheesy bowl of surprises. It's the perfect way to end a day of taco sampling before starting on the cocktails of the evening or heading back across the border.

See more photos from Baja on Flickr.

Settebello: One more step to a better Pasadena

Diavola pizza features peppered salami

Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana is the latest entry in the ongoing push for Pasadena not to suck so badly, foodwise, and it's a worthy attempt. Like nearly everything else along Colorado, there's a whiff of the corporate about Settebello, which has two locations in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, a slick website and servers who earnestly explain that the pizzas are sized individually and served unsliced.
The former Famima market has been stripped of its Pockys and classed up with a large marble bar, long wooden tables and lots of golden lights; on a Friday night it fills up fast with couples and families with strollers. But it's a bit more sophisticated than a neighborhood pizza joint, with Italian cocktails and a menu mostly centered on vera pizza Napoletana. A nearly-breadless panzanella salad with arugula and croutons is pleasant but far from authentic -- it's probably just as well given the dough that follows. There's also an antipasto plate and several other salads, and a decent selection of Italian wines and beers.

Pizzas that bear that label must be made by trained pizzaiolos, hand rolled and cooked in a wood-burning oven. The result is a fairly thin crust with nice bits of char, a slightly soggy center and a goodly amount of chew. The menu at the Pasadena location is slightly different from the one on the website -- there's no Quattro Stagioni variety, and several of the toppings in Pasadena seem to include mascarpone or panna. Is this traditional in Italy? The extra creaminess didn't add much to the pizza -- I preferred the Diavola, in which the cleaner flavors seemed to cohere into a lightly spicy and satisfying whole. In general, the topping selection seemed kind of middle-of-the-road, and I'd agree with Sinosoul that the toppings might not be of the highest quality -- but priced fairly at about $13 each.
The verdict: Settebello is definitely worth a try for its nicely chewy crust if you're in the Pasadena area to go to Vroman's or the Playhouse theaters. But I'd stick with Mother Dough, despite its lengthy wait, for a little more character.
Settebello Pizzeria

625 E Colorado
Pasadena

(626) 765-9550