Osteria La Buca (5210 Melrose Ave.; 323.462.1900) in Hollywood launches a brand new retail component, letting you be creative with Chef Jason Neroni’s simple and delicious canned items. Utilizing the season’s freshest produce from Chef Neroni’s frequent trips to farmers’ markets, as well as house-cured meats, Osteria La Buca’s retail offerings feature items such housemade pastas, smoked and marinated olives, zucchini bread and butter pickles, pork fat almonds, and Osteria La Buca’s “Mother Sauce”–a housemade sauce that can be used for both pizza and pasta. You can snag items from the retail area during regular restaurant hours.
Osteria La Buca’s to-go items serve as an extension of restaurant’s Grassroots Italian cooking philosophy. The pastas are freshly made daily in The Pasta Room–a loft-like space located on the second floor of the restaurant, used during the day as a pasta production and canning space, and at night as a private dining area. Chef Neroni prepares all items using a “back-to-basics” approach, including pork fat almonds made by cooking the almonds in bacon fat alongside housemade bacon in Osteria La Buca’s pizza oven, and dusting the final product with sea salt. The olives are smoked in-house and marinated in olive oil with citrus rinds, and then canned with rosemary, garlic, and chilies; and the zucchini bread and butter pickles offer a seasonal take on traditional bread and butter pickles, using zucchini instead of cucumbers. Osteria La Buca’s prized “Mother Sauce” is made with San Marzano tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, and smoked paprika, and is cooked for 24 hours at 200 degrees.
Open for lunch Tuesday-Friday from 11:30-2:30 pm and for dinner Tuesday-Thursday from 5:30-10:30 pm, Friday-Saturday 5:30-11 pm, and Sunday 5-10:30 pm.
