I had an opportunity to hang out in the kitchen with the staff at Sotto earlier this year. Reality food TV would have you believe that professional cooking is all about what you can do with a secret ingredient in 60 minutes, or marshmallow peeps in 20. The truth is that real professionals are focused on repeatably and consistently producing dishes, night after night, that have been fine-tuned way before the actual restaurant service. Every time I asked the staff at Sotto about an order being made, I got quite exact answers about technique, quantity, time and seasoning level.

Continue reading Grilling a Sicilian fish at Sotto in Los Angeles @SottoLA at Our Italian Table.

We generally haven’t written much about restaurants we enjoy, but Sotto, in Los Angeles, rates an exception to the rule. Not only is Sotto [web site] one of the few Italian restaurants in Los Angeles where Joe is impressed enough not to keep saying, “I could make this better at home,” (which gets annoying and means we seldom try Italian restaurants outside Italy), but its wine list is one of the most interesting in town.

Continue reading Reality Check: Sotto’s Wine List at Our Italian Table.