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A heavy bowl of macaroni past.
Rye macaroni from Olivetta
Wonho Frank Lee

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Here’s Where All the West Hollywood Hip Kids Will Be Eating This Month

The first big restaurant opening of 2020 is here with Olivetta

Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

The latest trend in Los Angeles area dining is abject maximalism, a more-is-more approach to food (think caviar service everywhere), menu formats (ahem Birdie G’s), and design. West Hollywood’s brand new Olivetta, a sparkling Melrose Avenue showpiece from Matt and Marissa Hermer of the Draycott in the Pacific Palisades, has definitely gotten the note.

Olivetta combines not only big culinary talent in former Love & Salt chef Michael Fiorelli, but also with its design from Tom Parker of Fettle. The former Au Fudge address has been outfitted with four different dining areas, starting with a sun-drenched front room complete with fireplace, and a lounge-y so-called “living room” with wide leather banquette seating and views to Melrose beyond.

Further down the main hallway is the sweeping and colorful primary dining room, complete with fabric ceiling and energetic glow. The final piece of the puzzle is a second interior drinking and snacking area with its own rounded bar that can double as a space for live music in the evenings. Geffen Records president Neil Jacobson is on to curate music, including all-vinyl DJ nights.

Dim lighting at a colorful new bar.
That bar glow

As for the food, Fiorelli will continue to lean on a lifetime of Italian cooking with dishes like rye macaroni and fennel sausage along with more pan-Mediterranean flavors found in grilled Spanish octopus, baby carrots with pistachio and feta, or a branzino with lemon conserva. Melina Meza will oversee the cocktails, and Eric Railsback handles wine. The opening menus are below.

Olivetta opens tonight in West Hollywood, keeping dinner hours only to start from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday). The bar runs nightly until midnight, or 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Expect brunch in the coming months.

Olivetta. 9010 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood.

Flowing ceilings and dim lighting at a new restaurant.
The living room
A dark green bar and lounge area.
Art on the walls at a dim new LA restaurant.
A well lit back bar at a new restaurant.
A host stand lit by pin light with art behind it.
A long banquette reveals an open window behind it.
Looking out to Melrose
A tight rounded marble bar with plants above at Olivetta in West Hollywood.
Seating at the second bar
A fireplace and wicker seats sit on a patio.
The indoor-outdoor front room
Two wicker chairs and lots of plants on a restaurant patio.
Low drapes and big plants show off a long dining room.
The big primary dining room
Big, comfortable booths and long tables in a large dining room.
A skylight above, too
Tall lamps run down the center of a seating arrangement inside a colorful new restaurant.
And very chic lamps
Long roasted carrots on a rectangular white plate.
Roasted carrots with pistachio and feta
A curl of octopus, grilled, on a white plate.
Grilled Spanish octopus
A whole de-skinned fish with grilled lemon on the side.
Branzino
A tall peach cocktail with two olives.
A deep red spritz with a slice of orange.
An orange cocktail filled with a variety of fruit garnishes.
A classic-looking cocktail with ice and a twist of lemon peel.

Olivetta

9010 Melrose Avenue, , CA 90069 (310) 307-3932 Visit Website
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