Palermo

There is this Italian restaurant on Vermont, located on the same cute street where Figaro Bistrot is also located, the street is lined with independent bookstores, cafe, shops, a small theater and restaurants.  Brother Charlie and I have passed Palermo many times, somewhere from the grapevine it reached our ears that Palermo was the place to go.  On a Sunday night for our family dinner we ended up at Palermo's.

The temperature is dropping during Christmas time and while Euro-heads and peeps from the east coast laugh at us, for they the mighty cold frontsmen know that a mere 48F is nothing compared to their frozen winters!  There we were that night, shivering, and huddling into Palermo's, awaiting our table for 10.

Palermo's is rather large, and on Sunday night seems to be quite busy, but as busy and hectic as the waiters and host are they are never to busy to be accommodating and friendly.  You can wait for your table with a glass of red or white wine for a mere dollar.  Numerous pictures of celebrities line the walls, you can take a look at their wine selection for sale, or even their Italian goodies: crackers, candies and such that are also for sale.

My sister having two little boys knows her stuff, well... she definitely knows how to keep the boys occupied.  The little dumpling seated above is kept quiet and in place with none other than the best baby-sitter at work, the iphone.

While some restaurants serve complimentary bread, okay, while most restaurants are serving complimentary bread at Palermo's they serve small slices of Pizza.  The bread is thick and chewy, the flavors wonderful, the tomato sauce is tangy and sweet, the cheese minimal and the tomatos taste fresh.

My mother orders a large ceasar salad, she must be on a diet!  Who in the heck orders a ceasar salad for dinner at an Italian restaurant?!  I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to taste the salad but suspect it tasted like... a ceasar salad?

Brother Charlie orders Chicken Diane, full of white sauce and chunks of chicken, this dish was probably my least favorite.  The sauce and the chicken was not very flavorful and dare I say a bit boring with just chicken and white cheesy sauce which is most likely made of cream and cheese.  This is definitely one dish I would suggest skipping should you find yourself at Palermo's.

Mr. Borscht goes with his Italian restaurant go-to dish, the Chicken Marsala.  It is unlike any Chicken Marsala I have ever seen but the sauce is delicious and I love the side of steamed vegetables on the side.

Tummy orders a half order of meat Cannelloni, a large pasta tube filled with ground beef topped with marinara sauce and melted cheese.  The marinara sauce is wonderful, like the sauce on the complimentary pizza it is tangy yet slightly sweet and tastes of fresh tomatoes.  The ground meat is melt in your mouth and though I'm not too sure of this meat texture, for what kind of ground beef melts in your mouth?  Together, the entire dish is quite to my liking.

Other things that were ordered were the Veal Parmigiana and the meat ravioli with meatballs, unfortunately neither of these two dishes were well received.  

The meal ended with complimentary dessert, tiramisu, and this was quite a treat as the tiramisu was very delicious.  The taste of coffee was apparent and the liquor soaked bread was a delight!

And while the meal turned out to be enjoyable as the food was plenty, the experience new, and the help amazingly cheerful and friendly (as you'd expect a family-run Italian restaurant to be) the food in general was not all that it was cracked up to be.  

The next day I looked in the refrigerator to heat up Mr. Borscht's Chicken Marsala leftovers I realized that it had become one solid form, between and around the chicken and noodles was a block of orange something, from the fat of the cheese and butter I suspect, we did not eat the leftovers and had to throw it away, afraid of receiving an immediate heart-attack had we tried to consume it.  This evaluation of the food however did explain why I was up half the night with a tummy-ache.  I suspect that if you are not one that consumes a lot of fat and grease this may have the same affect on you.  And maybe it was the cheese or maybe the pasta, perhaps the fat content but I was unable to go #2 (you know the #2 I speak of) for 3 days.

Brother Charlie and Tummy had a small but good discussion about Palermo's, and unanimously voted that the food we ordered was less in taste than expected but thought it important to give it another go, but this time for the pizza.  We suspect that the Pizza is what it's all about at Palermo's, we should have taken a queu from all the other customers with pizza on their table, another example of how often times it is hard to see what is right infront of you.

Little dumpling at the end of dinner, he lost his sweater but not the iphone!

Palermo Italian Restaurant
1858 N. Vermont Ave
LA CA 90027
(323) 663.1178