Santa Monica's Luigi al Teatro Debuts Fall Menu

Located in a 1910 Mission revival style building that has housed the Santa Monica Southern California Edison Electrical Plant, a temple, a recording studio and a theatre, restaurant Luigi al Teatro launched a new fall menu in late September.

Over 50 food writers, community members and guests attended a preview dinner showcasing the new menu on September 26.

Hidden in a residential Santa Monica neighborhood in back of Main Street, diners follow a narrow side pathway to a secluded back entrance. Luigi al Teatro’s design and name are inspired by the theatre it once was and it’s Michelin-starred chef and owner Luigi Fineo. Guests can choose to dine on the romantic back patio surrounded by a vertical potted herb garden, tomato plants, twinkling overhead lights and a retractable roof or venture inside to the main dining room with high ceilings, paintings of theatre actors and custom furniture built to face the action of the open kitchen.

Each dining area has a separate new fall menu. The patio area is casual and offers lighter fare. Appetizers include heirloom tomato and basil salad; roasted mushrooms with arugula, parmesan and lemon and tuna with eggs, potato, olives and green beans. Pastas include linguini with pesto, potato and green beans; spaghetti with clams and rigatoni with broccoli, lemon zest and parmesan. Main entrees include skirt steak, stuffed mushrooms, chicken breast and salmon served with spinach and rapini sides. Diners can finish their meal with ricotta and barley mousse; lemon meringue mousse; rum baba whipped cream or gelato.

Inside, the dimly lit main dining room offers a mostly pescatarian Puglia inspired menu. Appetizers include Cannolo di Tonno with tuna, avocado, mango and pepperoncino; Capesante with scallops, olive oil and preserved lemon; sea bream carpaccio with orange, lemon and olive oil; octopus with a chickpea puree; Hawaiian prawns and burrata on grilled bread and broiled Amberjack collar on a spinach salad.

During the tasting diner we sampled the octopus and sea bream appetizers. Both were delicious.

Pastas include cavatelli with potato, mussels and bottarga; spaghetti with sardines, pine nuts, fennel and raisins; linguine with sea urchin and black lobster ravioli. Main dishes include a Tuscan shellfish stew; salmon with snap peas and baby yellow beets; olive oil poached halibut with white asparagus and a parsnip puree; seared tuna with roasted wild mushrooms and daily fresh meat and seafood specials.

We also sampled the cavatelli with potato, mussels and bottarga; a John Dory with tomato and spinach acciugata and a Wagyu New York steak. Dessert was a rich chocolate budino.

Classically trained Chef Luigi Fineo’s cuisine is inspired by the southern seafood of Puglia, Italy. After graduating from Casetellana Grotte Culinary School in Puglia, he worked in Michelin starred restaurants in Tuscany. In order to share his passion for traditional southern Italian cuisine, Fineo travelled to America where he was awarded a Michelin Star while serving as Executive Chef at Santa Monica’s La Botte Ristorante. Fineo became the youngest chef in the United States to earn a Michelin Star. He went on to work under culinary greats Chef Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and at Bouchon Beverly Hills and Chef Gino Angelini as Executive Chef at Rivabella Ristorante. While working as Chef de Cuisine at Andrea Restaurant at the Resort at Pelican Hill, Fineo earned the acclaimed Four Stars from Forbes Travel Guide. In 2016, he co-founded The Landmarks Restaurant Group and opened Osteria Venice West in Venice Beach. In 2018, Luigi al Teatro opened and launched a seafood focused fall menu.

Luigi al Teatro is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; happy hour nightly from 4 to 7p.m. and dinner nightly from 5 to 10 p.m. For more information or to make reservations, please visit www.luigialteatro.com or call 310.328.0000.