Sotto [century city-ish]

Sotto 

9575 W Pico Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90035

I had been wanting to try Sotto's pizza but the three dolla $igns deterred me for a while. Andrew decided he wanted to take his family there when they came to visit so it was the perfect opportunity to snap a few pics. Of course, when dining out with a big group it is a little bit more difficult to whip out my camera to take a million photos of a restaurant, especially one so small and dim inside. I did manage to take a few innocuous photos on my phone, to try to capture the essence of their pizzas. 

Not pictured are the appetizers we had, including the housemade bread plate with delicious and creamy burrata as well as what can only be referred to as lardo. Also ordered were the olives and the pita chips. Andrew and I also got a pasta to split before we each got our own pizzas because we are gluttons. I can't remember exactly what the pasta was but it isn't even on their menu online so does it really exist? Anyway, I ordered the margherita pizza of course, and Andrew and his dad each got the Guanciale pizza, which seemed to be the most popular online. 

The pasta that we had as an appetizer was very delicious, and I was already getting pretty full before digging into my margherita. It looked very good upon first presentation, with a fluffy crust and a good cheese-to-sauce ratio. I only got to eat 2 slices of it before I was stuffed, but overall I thought the pizza was pretty great for an Italian restaurant. The cheese was good quality and tasty, and the crust was perfectly soft inside yet crispy on the outside. The only complaint I had was that overall the pizza was a little too salty. It may have been the sauce or they sprinkled on some extra sea salt or something on top, but they could have done without it. I didn't even get to try Andrew's pizza, but he said something about the ingredients being a little overpowering. Everyone was just already pretty full from the appetizers by the time the pizza came out, so the pizza impressions may have been a bit skewed.

Sotto is a great Italian restaurant though, but I would probably only come for the pastas and could get better pizza somewhere else. The atmosphere is nice and hip and seems like a place you might see a celebrity or something because it is pretty dim inside and you can't really see people's faces. Very LA.

Margherita: tomato, mozzarella, basil, EVOO ($14)

Good crust texture and ample cheese

Guanciale: house-cured pork cheek, ricotta, scallions, fennel pollen ($18) (added fried egg for $2)

Crust: great, soft yet crispy and not too soggy

Cheese: good amount

Sauce: maybe a little salty

Best Part: the crust/dough

Recommend: pizza is okay but you should just get a pasta instead