Sotto Stecchi [CLOSED]

Italian Food Los Angeles

As part of Sopra at Sotto, Steve Samson's Bologna inspired feast, stecchi skewered mortadella, Provolone, sage, and sweetbreads.

Since Sotto opened in 2011, this subterranean Beverlywood restaurant from chefs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack has become synonymous with southern Italian cuisine. However, on September 17, Steve Samson started branching out with a family-style dinner series, which they’ve dubbed Sopra at Sotto. His first feast was highly personal, a recreation of his parents’ wedding feast featuring the food of Bologna, the city in Emilia-Romagna where Anna and Robert Samson first met. This was ostensibly a five-course meal, but each course contained at least three elements. Highlights appeared at every turn, including a pair of supple stecchi.

Samson skewered alternating chunks of silky mortadella, sharp Provolone, aromatic sage leaves, and creamy veal sweetbreads, which he soaked in milk, poached and pressed. The skewers are treated to a light coat of flour, dipped in Béchamel and breaded before they’re grilled and squeezed with lemon. In Bologna, chefs are known to use calve’s brain and thick pastry cream for stecchi, but Sotto’s version was still plenty rich and rewarding. I could have eaten a dozen skewers, but that would have limited me from enjoying the rest of the supper.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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