First look: Massimo Bottura's first Los Angeles restaurant on the Gucci rooftop in Beverly Hills

First look: Massimo Bottura’s first Los Angeles restaurant on the Gucci rooftop in Beverly Hills

Feb. 9, 2020 8 AM PT

Massimo Bottura is opening his first restaurant in Los Angeles, bringing an intimate, 50-seat restaurant called Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura to Beverly Hills on Feb. 17. It will be on the Gucci rooftop, with an entrance between the men’s and women’s stores on Rodeo Drive.

The restaurant is the second for Gucci and Bottura, who earned three Michelin stars at his restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. The two opened Gucci Osteria in Florence in 2018.

The terrace of Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills.

Bottura describes the menu as “a journey of Italian flavors meeting the Los Angeles culinary food map.” He said he and chefs Karime López (who is the chef in Florence) and Mattia Agazzi, who will be running the L.A. kitchen, will draw inspiration from the diversity of Los Angeles for the menu.

A dish called Coming From the Hills pairs local white trout with hazelnuts and mushrooms. Another, Pasta Fagioli With a View of the Pacific Coast, brings together beans, sea urchin and raw mixed vegetables. And the Risotto Camouflaged as Pizza features risotto with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Other dishes include cauliflower alla bagna cauda, seafood salad, “spaghetto bouillabesse” and eggplant parmigiana.

Bottura also plans to serve some dishes from the restaurant in Florence. Both the chef’s signature tortellini with Parmigiano-Reggiano cream and the Emilia burger, made with cotechino, salsa verde and balsamic mayonnaise, will be available.

The rooftop of a luxury store may seem an unlikely choice for Bottura to open his first L.A. restaurant, but the chef has been friends with Gucci Chief Executive Officer Marco Bizzarri since high school. For five years, Bottura said teachers yelled at the two boys for making too much noise in class and told them they would never amount to anything.

“Fast-forward a few years and here we are still getting in trouble with our overeager minds and desires to make things happen,” Bottura said. “Although we work in different mediums, we share a similar vision and passion for beauty, which drives us to pursue the highest form of expression.”

That drive earned Bottura and Bizzarri a Michelin star at their Florence restaurant last year.

Many of the design elements in Beverly Hills are inspired by the Florence osteria. Guests enter through a Gucci Decor-wallpapered entryway with star cutouts on the ceiling and herringbone wood floors. The space is split into a dining room and terrace, with both open daily for lunch and dinner. Over the wicker chairs and red marble tables on the terrace is a retractable roof that opens to a view of the Hollywood Hills and Rodeo Drive below. Cherry-red banquettes line the back wall facing the terrace, with views from just about any seat in the dining room.