Full disclosure, Chi Spacca is my favorite restaurant in LA. It’s hearty, filling, savory and combines a lot of salt with unique flavor that leave me feeling amazed and satisfied every time I go. When I die, I want to get buried with their 60 oz. Tomahawk steak so I can take it with me to the afterlife.

I’m going to provide you a full breakdown of each item on their menu. But, from time to time one or two things may change based on seasonality so I’ll cover the staples and tell you if there’s anything new on the menu it’s probably amazing and you should get it 🙂

Pro Tip: Save your craziest workout of the month for a couple hours before your dinner here. You’ll thank me later.

Wine Tip: Break out one of your nicest reds for this restaurant, a majority of the dishes you’ll be having will pair well with a strong California Cab or a fruit forward, Amarone on the younger side. For the first bottle, you’ll want to get the “orange wine” they have. I’ve never seen or tasted something quite like it, and every bottle is a little unique!

Charcuterie

Chi Spacca offers a variety of cured meats to start your night with, and I’m a sucker for prosciutto so this is usually the route I go. I try not to order too much to start, as I know what the rest of the evening has in store for me, but it’s hard to pass on their charcuterie board.

Focaccia di Recco

Don’t call it pizza, because it isn’t, but this focaccia di recco is like a prettier step-sister of Neapolitan pizza. Oh, and sometimes she comes with black or white truffles 🙂

The back story to the focaccia is pretty cool. Apparently, it took Nancy Silverton, owner of Chi Spacca and nationally esteemed chef, over 3 years trying to perfect the crust the way that she wanted it to.

The focaccia is drizzled in olive oil and cooked in a cast iron pan in order to get the proper crunchy-flakiness ratio :p. The cheese is salty and delicious while not being too overwhelming. The slight bitterness of the “orange wine” cuts the cheesy focaccia flavor perfectly.

If they’re offering it with black or white truffles (and you’re willing to pony up the cash) you should 100% order it. They actually have a specific special cheese they’ll use for the black truffles and a different kind of cheese for the white truffles. I’m no cheese connoisseur, but the way they pair the truffles with the different kinds of cheeses is remarkable. The cheese isn’t as strong as the normal focaccia, to allow for the flavor of the truffles to really stand out.

Branzino

Fish? At a meat restaurant? Yea, this branzino is awesome. Another simple but delicious dish, this branzino is lightly roasted and served with lemon on a bed of greens. Just about the lightest dish you’ll find on the menu, I like to use this as one of the intermediary courses between the Focaccia and the main dishes.

The branzino pairs well with the “orange wine”, especially before you really hammer your taste buds with a hearty red and the Tomahawk.

Short Ribs

The Short Ribs at Chi Spacca are tender and fall off the bone. Chef uses a soy sauce mixture and garnishes them with green onions. Contrary to most restaurants, these short ribs are not super fatty, providing a lot of lean meat to dig into and enjoy.

Polla alla Diavola su Crostone

Who orders chicken at dinner? Well, this is no ordinary chicken. A roasted Petaluma chicken on top of toasted bread and finished with seasoning and lemon. Tender and delicious,

Beef & Bone Marrow Pie (Meat Pie)

My favorite dish at Chi Spacca, and by far the heaviest (looking at you heavy cream mashed potatoes) is a unique French type pastry stuffed with meat, onions, mushrooms and finished off with a center piece of bone filled with marrow. Of course, this dish comes with the famous Chi Spacca mashed potatoes, making this dish the most heart friendly on the menu!

I don’t get this everytime I go, because it is really quite filling, but it has the most exquisite and exceptional flavor profile. The combination of the crusty outside pie with the tender, fall apart in your mouth beef filling is surreal. Be sure to follow up every bite with a forkful of those mashed potatoes!

Porkchop

 

Bistecca

Sometimes Flannery Beef, sometimes not, this monster of a meat dish is the perfect main course to fill in appetizers and other entrees around. You haven’t eaten at Chi Spacca till you’ve tried the Bistecca.

The steak is ¼ Filet, ¾ New York, and is cooked rare, and I mean RARE. Don’t send your steak back because it’s pink, this is how high-quality meat should be eaten. My favorite is the Filet, not as fatty and with a more intense dry-aged flavor, I always go for this part first. The New York portion is a bit more traditional, where you can still taste the aging but it’s not as intense. If you’re not used to dry-aged steaks, you’ll probably prefer the New York side.

The Tomahawk is covered in olive oil, with salt sprinkled on top. That’s it. Simple perfection.

They also offer 42 oz and 36 oz steaks. And if you’re lucky, they’ll break out a 60 oz every once in a while. 🙂

The Sides

Broccolini

I have been searching for this broccoli in stores for the past couple years with no success. Low and behold, according to Head Chef Ryan Denicola, these are a special kind of broccoli that I just won’t be able to find at the average grocery store!

I’m not super technical, and most definitely not with broccoli, but these are a cross between a normal broccoli and broccolini. They’re not broccolini, and they’re not broccoli, but covered in olive oil, garlic, and salt they’re damn good.

Butter Lettuce

This is offered as a salad, but I always save it to order as an accompaniment to the Bistecca. The vinegar dressing serves as a great pallet cleanser in between bites and gets a few more greens into your body! Because I like to combine flavors, I once took a butter lettuce cup and filled it with meat pie and filet to make a taco… People looked at me weird but it was awesome. So, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Sweet Potatoes

Cauliflower

Everyone’s least favorite vegetable… until you smother it in olive oil and season it to perfection. Then it tastes pretty damn good.

Turnips

Specials not always on the menu

Rabbit

Lamb

 

The Ultimate Dinner for 4:

• Charcuterie board
• Salad
• Focaccia
• Short Ribs
• Branzino
• Meat Pie
• Bistecca

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