Is West Third Street Italian Restaurant Gusto Down For the Count?

West Third Street Italian restaurant Gusto seems to have closed quietly this month. A tipster tells Eater that there is a notice of rent delinquency taped to the front door, and that the place is locked up tight.

What’s more, the OpenTable page for Gusto lists the restaurant as permanently closed, and Gusto’s Instagram and Facebook pages have not updated since early May. Their website is still up, however, though calls and emails in to Gusto so far have yielded no response.

If true, the loss of Gusto to busy West Third Street would cap a winding run for the once-popular pasta spot. For years Gusto operated as a minuscule 35-seat Italian destination further down towards La Cienega, before chef chef/owner Vic Casanova moved the operation up the street to a much larger home in 2017. That new address at 8022 W. Third St. had previously been home to a different Casanova restaurant, the chophouse Pistola, before the chef made the flip.

Now it seems there’s nothing left either way. Interestingly enough, Casanova had more recently been splitting his time between Gusto on West Third and a newer project, running the kitchen at the tony Montage in Laguna Beach, Orange County, but reps there tell Eater that he is no longer cooking at that property, either. Eater reached out to Casanova directly and via Gusto, but so far hasn’t heard back.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles overall continues to experience a wealth of Italian options, from spots like Ronan on Melrose and Rossoblu in Downtown to the newer Jon & Vinny’s in Brentwood and classics like Angelini Osteria.

Gusto. 8022 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA.

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