Keep it simple. That’s a great rule for dinner parties, when the experience ends up being at least as much about the people as it is about the food. That’s at least part of the reason for the success of the starter at last Saturday’s dinner, where Linda ended up bringing a big container of Gioia burrata and three loaves of soft, pull apart bread with chewy crusts from Santa Monica’s Bay Cities Italian Deli. The creamy burrata, produced in South El Monte, formed milky strands with the tug of my fork’s tines, and with a dusting of salt and pepper and drizzle of olive oil, worked in harmony with the bread.