"After America 's decades of torturing and mass producing Italian food, it 's easy to forget one of the main staples of true Italian cooking: unfussy, simple recipes using the best and freshest ingredients. No, Jon and Vinny 's is not just like you 're in Italy, but they have remembered that main tenet. Keep it simple, keep it good. I was expecting this place to be very over-hyped. A place for bored LA residents to try spotting stars. I brought my mom here for an early dinner when she was visiting, and we shared the ricotta bruschetta with orange blossom honey, the LA woman pizza, and the cavateli with sausage and cavolo nero similar to kale . We of course saved enough room for dessert, for which we got the chocolate budino with caramel, olive oil, and sea salt. Wow. The bruschetta was great- soft, chewy it crisped bread from Gjusta was loaded generously with impossibly soft ricotta, and the honey and sesame seed toppings added sweetness and a toasty crunch. It got us excited for the second course, which did not disappoint. The LA woman pizza arrived. The crust was very thin and crispy which I usually do not prefer, but J V have changed my mind. The tomato sauce was so simple, probably no more than 2 or 3 ingredients, blended and thinly and evenly spread across the cracker-like crust. Small pools of olive oil and large flakes of sea salt were sprinkled on top, dimpled by 6 perfect dollops of burrata, each of which were delicately topped with leaves of basil. Simple, but perfect. No complaints, except that it had to be shared. We loved the cavatelli with fennel sausage, breadcrumbs and kale. The fresh pasta was the perfect texture and the breadcrumbs provided a beautiful crunchy contrast to the softness of the dish. Highly recommend. Finished the meal with an espresso and a chocolate budino which despite having filled ourselves up on the irresistible courses beforehand was scraped clean almost immediately. It was decadent and rich without being heavy, and the caramel and sea salt helped to add a bit of excitement. The unexpected and unsung hero was the drizzle of olive oil on top. Again, simple ingredients and small touches elevate Jon Vinny 's to the next level. Every bite was incredible, and worth every penny. Our total for all of this including tip was about $80, which for a very filling and delicious meal in LA especially Brentwood is not too dang bad. We did stray from the spicy vodka fusilli, which we worried would be overhyped vodka sauce is so trendy these days . I no longer fear that, and can 't wait to try it at my next visit. Hope to be back very soon."
