Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura is a series of Italian, contemporary restaurants, found in world cities with varied and different identities. Since February 2020, Gucci Osteria in Los Angeles has embodied the same values of high creativity, inspiration and inclusiveness as the House of Gucci. The restaurants share a culinary philosophy that rides the wave of the seasons with creativity, elegance, humour and sensuality, and from where they draw their inspiration. Capturing the youthful energy embodied in Gucci and its parallels with the philosophy of chef Massimo Bottura, they draw from the thread of legacy, always contemporary in its present and driving forward to the future. Massimo Bottura is an Italian chef, gastronome and entrepreneur. He owns Osteria Francescana, which has earned three Michelin stars and a green Michelin star. I learned about Massimo while watching Chef's Table, which is a Emmy-nominated series where you learn about culinary stars around the world who are redefining gourmet food with innovative dishes and tantalizing desserts. At this Beverly Hills location, Chef Mattia Agazzi is at the helm. From the three Michelin starred Cerea brothers in Bergamo, Joel Robuchon and Norbert Niederkofler to a magical encounter with Massimo Bottura and Karime Lopez at Gucci Osteria in Florence, Mattia Agazzi's path tends to naturally follow athletic heights of culinary excellence. The restaurant is gaudy downstairs. Giant, bold wallpaper prints, but when you're granted access to the Main Room, it's a different vibe. Red velvet seating and herringbone wood floors. The outdoor terrace has Italian marble mosaic floors and an antique wooden pulpit serving as the Osteria’s outdoor bar. Kaitee and I had reservations for lunch. You can opt for a set course meal, or you can pick and choose a la carte. Depending on what you're interested in ordering, the prixe fixe menu may be a better deal. The meal begins with a bread service, which offers three varieties of bread with Normandy butter and a whipped ricotta cheese spread. We had a basket of ciabatta with olives, a poppy seed-crusted sourdough, a lavash cracker and a rosemary bun. They were warm and enclosed in a linen that kept them fresh, which made the butter and cheese spread melt beautifully over top. These were absolutely delicious bites to whet my appetite. I think my favorite ended up being the the ciabatta with olives, and I love ricotta on everything. Let's begin on what Kaitee ordered and generously gave me a nibble of: "The City is in Bloom" - Japanese turnip, grilled enoki mushroom, celeriac dashi with a tableside pour. Light, beautiful. "You & Me in Capri" - Lemon ricotta raviolo, bottarga. Divine. "Patatine Fritte - Our Fries Don’t Speak French" - Roasted chicken salt, EVO mayo. Fine. Now, let's move onto mine. I opted for more classic dishes that I have heard of. "Risotto Camouflaged as Pizza" - Tomato, basil, stracciatella. Wonderful.

"On the menu, you'll find Agazzi's fabulous homage to Bottura's prank, the cheekily named Risotto Camouflaged as Pizza. "We wanted you to prepare a risotto that makes you think about pizza," said Agazzi. "How do we do it? Using the main ingredients of a classic pizza turned into a different form, to work as risotto. The burnt capers would bring you back the texture and taste of a typical pizza crust. The tomato water is the evolution of the tomato sauce spread over the stretched dough, while the basil cream is the final touch." The result, according to the chef, "tastes more like pizza than pizza itself," according to Mashed. Tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano cream. Too much sauce for me, but simply tasty.

"When it arrives at the table, the first thing you notice is the creamy Parmigiano Reggiano sauce that pools in the grooves of the pasta. That sauce is made by patiently stirring a bubbling pot of Italy’s famous cheese, which is created to complement the real star of the dish. The tortellini are handmade every morning in Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura by Martina Fraccaroli who gleaned her tortellini shaping know-how from a group of women in Modena—where the dish was born. Now she deftly folds the fresh pasta in the restaurant’s kitchen every morning listening to rock music, before chef de cuisine Karime López and her team start lunch service. The form of tortellini has been likened to the shape of Botticelli’s Venus’ navel, Martina describes her tortellini for the Gucci Osteria as being ‘chubby’, bursting with the meat filling in order to deliver maximum taste for every bite. Tortellini from Gucci Osteria’s menu are seen through the lens of photographer, art director and artist Max Siedentopf," according to Gucci. Gifts from the chef came out in the form of dessert: Bignè, filled with raspberry-vanilla cream and topped with a white chocolate disk. Tropical passion fruit jelly. Both interesting ways to end the meal. Grade: A

Located in the heart of Beverly Hills along Canon Drive, Spago is the flagship restaurant of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. The sleek and simple design of the restaurant enhances the iconic, market-driven menus and exceptional level of service for which the restaurant is best known. Guests can choose from a seasonal a la carte menu, or explore the best of the west with the chefs’ multi-course California Tasting Menu, reads the website. Spago's signature smoked salmon pizza has been on the menu of the original Spago in Beverly Hills since 1982 when it was created. The Applewood Smoked Salmon Pizza comes with Dill Creme Fraiche, Chives and Salmon Roe. All for $42, at the time of this writing. That mix of hot and cold, crisp and creamy, and sweet and savory has made it iconic. Puck invented this famous dish one night when actress Joan Collins ordered smoked salmon with brioche, and the restaurant was out of bread. He replaced the bread with pizza crust and created an elevated version of a bagel and lox. The current incarnation features whole salmon that is butchered by Spago’s chefs and seasoned with cloves, bay leaves, parsley, thyme and brown sugar. The cured salmon is then smoked in-house, the whole process taking up to four days. Cooked to order, the pizza dough is fired with shaved dried onion and olive oil until the crust is crackling before being covered with crème fraîche infused with dill, shallots, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and crowned with smoked salmon slices and caviar, according to the Michelin guide. I'm already a big fan of bagel and lox, so this just stepped it up a notch for me. It was the most fresh, most flavorful version of this meal that I've had. I know it's not a traditional pizza and the texture may be tough for some folks, but this small taste of luxury for me was one of the highlights of my trip. Aside from the pizza, we did have a few other bites. We had complimentary bread for the table, which I certainly didn't need. But I definitely enjoyed the sourdouche and brioche and cracker. Fresh, soft, all the good things. A regular salted butter and specialty seaweed butter, which were the perfect temperature to be perfectly spread. It's a pet peeve when you have cold butter that cannot spread. It was a bucket-list experience for me and fortunately, the expectations of the food lived up to that. Grade: A

When I think of "Beverly Hills," I think of Weezer. In their wise words:

"Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
(Gimme gimme, gimme gimme)
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rollin' like a celebrity
(Gimme gimme, gimme gimme)
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Look at all those movie stars
They're all so beautiful and clean
When the housemaids scrub the floors
They get the spaces in between
I wanna live a life like that
I wanna be just like a king
Take my picture by the pool
'Cause I'm the next big thing" My friend Kaitee and I had a few hours in Beverly Hills on our last epic trip, so I wanted to make the most of it - food-wise. For a quick breakfast while we brainstormed, we stopped at "Splurge." Splurge is a small cafe that serves sandwiches, wraps, paninis, salads and smoothies. I ordered a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onions - one of my favs. The bagel can make or break this dish... and unfortunately, this one was a bit too hard and dry. I need a bagel I can at least sink my teeth into. Without that foundation, it falls a little flat - even with solid toppings. Grade: B

Shari's Cafe & Pies is a chain of family dining restaurants based in the western United States and features its award-winning pies.



The Red Bluff, California, building has an odd hexagonal shape, and when you enter, you are greeted with a wide display of pies.



I started with a strawberry lemonade, which was perfectly sweet and tart.



For my entree, I kept it simple with a grilled cheese and tomato soup. This classic just hits the spot. Cheesy and creamy deliciousness.



What I was really looking forward to, though, was a slice of pie. Marionberry - which I had never had before - is one of their best sellers.



"The Oregon official state pie! In keeping with the expectation of this gloried berry, Shari’s Oregon Marionberry pie doesn’t disappoint. A marionberry is a cross between an olallieberry and a Chehalem blackberry and it’s grown exclusively in Oregon."



The berry pie has a nice balance of sweet and tart. It's not unlike a raspberry pie, but a little bit more unique.



Grade: A

There is no shortage of great restaurants in the Phoenix area, where my best friend Kaitee lives. Even when you don't feel like going out to eat, you can bring the delicious food to you. Perusing a delivery app, I found Royyim Thai Cuisine, which specializes in homestyle Thai food.

The restaurant offers a variety of dishes, such as curries, noodles, soups, salads, and stir-fries. I ordered the Pad Thai - The most famous of Thai dishes. Rice noodles stir-fried with choice of meat, egg, bean sprout cooked with traditional pad thai sauce made from coconut sugar and tamarind juices. Comes with green onion on top and grounded peanut on the side.

The flavors weren't quite as bold as I'm used to, but the subtlety that was there was nice. A little sweet, a little sour. Still craveable.

Grade: B