Culver City's Bacaro

Culver City is a suburb of Los Angeles that separates Mid City from Santa Monica. Like so many other parts of Los Angeles, Culver City grew in the early twentieth century with the help of the film industry.  Metro Goldwyn Mayer had their studios there and though the only thing that survives from that era are Sony Studios, a replica of Scarlett O'Hara's house from Gone With the Wind, and a cute lion statue, there is still an aura to the place.
If movies from the 30's brought magic, then the magic was produced in Culver City. Not exactly the best name for a dream factory, Culver City has recently specialized in restaurants. It's the Abbot Kinney of the middle class. There are bars and the great Kay n'Daves, but today, dear reader, I will talk about the restaurant Bacaro.
Bacaro is an Italian restaurant, and if you follow this humble publication you know my principle - never eat Italian food in the West Coast, California's Italian is Mexican. But Bacaro is interesting for its simplicity. It does not venture into carpaccios or polentas and other truly unique Italian dishes, but it sticks to the simple universal pasta dishes that anyone has already tasted, can cook at home or buy frozen in the supermarket, except Bacaro cooks them really well. The chef has no point to make and does not want to be original. He seams to be telling us "you ate all of these dishes before and probably in more imaginative ways but because you don't have an Italian grandmother like me let me prepare them simply as they should be cooked." And he achieves his goal. The lasagna is great! Entrees are good, decoration is simple and of good taste, the owner waits tables and the prices are acceptable. Good choice!

Good rigatoni

Glorious lasagna