Focusing on small plates, Italian style, and featuring dishes like risotto with shrimp and zucchini flowers, clams sautéed with garlic and fresh tomatoes, crepes filled with asparagus and topped with a porcini mushroom sauce, a plump stuffed pasta (tortelli) filled and topped with duck, and a warm salad with chicken breast and gorgonzola, it was complemented by wines from Joseph Phelps, Jermann from Friuli, Mastroberadino in Campania, plus Gaja in Piedmont and a number of Tuscans. This was “Los Angeles' hottest new restaurant” as USA Today the described Primi in 1985.
Over a quarter century ago, Piero Selvaggio – whose flagship Valentino in Santa Monica is celebrating its fortieth year in business – created a menu that would that feels more modern than the vast majority of those at Italian-themed restaurants across the country today. Garganelli, the fresh pasta shape initially from Emilia that has been found in high-end restaurants in recent years, was on Primi’s menu in its inaugural year. A version of cacio e pepe, that simple and satisfying Roman favorite that has charmed restaurateurs here, was also on that menu, among a number of other easy-to-like preparations. Selvaggio believes ”Primi was the first modern trattoria.” Just from the offerings, it is easy to concur.
For Primi’s inspiration, Selvaggio wrote, “I wanted a restaurant where people could eat the way I like to eat – tasting lots of little courses, instead of a more formal Italian meal.” A lot of other people enjoyed it, too, during its fifteen year run. Primi closed in 2000. It was certainly not only the concept and appealing culinary ideas that enthralled; it was the high-quality ingredients and the talented cadre of chefs, mostly from northern Italy, who executed them, including future James Beard Award winner Luciano Pellegrini, the executive chef at Valentino Las Vegas.
This long ago menu from Primi is just another example of how Piero Selvaggio has been at the vanguard of Italian dining in this country; providing inspiration for those to make the restaurant experience even more enjoyable.
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