Going Italian in the San Fernando Valley
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Paul Rodriguez's skirt steak, grilled Argentine style
There’s no shortage of Italian restaurants in the San Fernando Valley, and I know why. It’s because, when the conquistadores showed up here in 1781, they knew right away that the natives would be better off with a few Italian restaurants in the neighborhood.
Other immigrants have had the same thought – for instance, Paul Rodriguez, who runs Buenos Aires Grill in Northridge. He’s Argentine, not Italian, and his last name calls Spain to mind, not Italy. But lots of Argentine families hail from Italy, and the country’s cuisine makes you think of the old country except for one thing: Argentines eat more beef than maybe any other people in the world.
Beef is what you get at Buenos Aires Grill, in copious quantities – for example, parrilla Buenos Aires, a huge two-person meal of short ribs, skirt steak, sausage, and sweetbreads, or parrilla completa, all of the above plus half a chicken and marinated jumbo shrimp.
“My favorite dish is our skirt steak - entrana,” says Rodriquez, “and we’ve recently started cooking it the way it was meant to be, with the ‘skin’ on, which makes it more tasty.
"When we first opened up we wanted to accommodate American tastes, so we trimmed off the skin. But when you grill a skirt steak with the skin on it, you keep a lot of volume, and it holds its flavor. It’s a little more fatty, but most of that drips off as you cook it.”
Prices range to $22 for the grilled single-serving entrees, to $40 for the parrilla completa. Buenos Aires Grill is in a strip mall, at 8856 Corbin Ave., (818) 772-5552, on the north side of the big parking lot fronting Target. The tables fill up starting about 7 p.m., so go early.
Seafood Specials
If you want seafood, on the other hand, check out Alessio Ristorante Italiano, with locations in West Hills and Northridge. Owner Tony Alessio is known for his seafood, which he buys fresh three or four times a week, and in quantities just substantial enough to serve guests who want his off-menu specials.
Right now you can get yellowtail, whitefish, or grilled salmon over risotto, with herbes de Provence, but at other times of the year you might find Alessio sending ahi tuna or halibut out to the tables.
Prices range to $30, more for specials. Alessio is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week at 9725 Reseda Blvd. in Northridge, (818) 709-8393, and at 6428 Platt Ave., West Hills, (818) 710-0270.
Variety
If you want lots of choices, the menu at Sisley Italian Kitchen in Sherman Oaks is one of the biggest around.
"I like variety and authenticity,” says Jamie Alba, who runs Sisley with his wife Francine. “I don’t put down anybody else’s restaurant, but lots of people these days use processed and pre-cooked foods. We make our own meatballs fresh every day, our own marinara sauce from scratch every day. We have our own bakery in Sherman Oaks and truck our bread to all four of our locations.
“My favorite dish is the Italian quesadilla, which I invented – a pasta sheet with pine nuts, mozzarella, a skinless boneless chicken breast, and sun-dried tomato pesto sauce.”
Alba grew up in Brooklyn, Francine in Scarsdale, both of them of Italian heritage. “I was in the projects while she was in private school,” Jamie Alba says with a laugh. He landed in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago and launched a career on television, winning credits on “Mulligan Stew” and in some 30 movies.
He and Francine opened the first Sisley, on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles, in 1989, a second in Valencia in 1993, and the Sherman Oaks restaurant inn 1999. There is a fourth Sisley in Rancho Cucamonga. Most days you’ll find Alba at a big table near the front door of the Sherman Oaks location, lunching with a group of regulars often including Pete Rose, of baseball fame.
Sisley is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week at 15300 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 905-8444. Prices range to $25.
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Going Italian in the San Fernando Valley
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