wandering around venice at night brought us to primitivo. i love tapas. i love sampling lots of different things. i love sitting outside on the patio under a heat lamp. and i was totally in the mood for this, even though i didn’t know it. primitivo offers california style tapas featuring lots of fresh farmers’ market veggies and a wide variety of salads, seafood, and entrees which all caught my eye. the highlight of the evening was the “Strawberry Salad with Arugula, Blue Cheese, Toasted Hazelnuts, Prosciutto and Vanilla Bean
Vinaigrette.” i daresay the salad was even a bit underdressed. we also ordered their kanpachi crudo which came with fennel, celery hearts, and a yuzu vinaigrette. they do vinaigrette quite nicely. the pea medley was a bit overdressed in butter, but i ate every single green morsel as peas are my second favorite vegetable. the serving size is significant and our server cautioned us against ordering too much. so next time, we will bring a small army and order the ricotta-chive gnocchi, the harissa lamb chops, the mussels, the scallops, and a few more salads.

bottom line: it ain’t a.o.c. and that’s a good thing.

primitivo | 1025 abbott kinney blvd 90291 | 310.396.5353