Gjelina is to Venice what République is to LA Central, a vital culinary engine feeding Venetians from 8 a.m. until midnight. Travis Lett’s densely worded menu features intensely flavored, Mediterranean-themed, sneakily complex comfort food: Smoked mozzarella pizza, for example, would seem to him naked without jalapeño, lemon and bottarga shavings. Henry Beylin’s mostly Old World-derived wine list is supplemented with bottles he and his team source themselves, exclusives ranging from Fuhrgassl-Huber’s verdant Viennese Gemischter Satz to Irene Badala’s nerello mascalese from Etna.
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, Los Angeles, California
American
(310) 450-1429
Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.
This story appears in the print issue of April 2019.
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