La Bettola Di Terroni to Open Tonight

The highly anticipated opening of La Bettola Di Terroni is tonight – Friday, October 13 – according to Shereen Arazm, the Hancock Park resident who is taking over the former Vernetti space.

“We are going to be open every day for lunch and dinner,” Arazm told the Buzz. “We will offer items from our Terroni menu, but this jewel box on Larchmont will be its own space with some special and different menu items,” she said.

The interior space will feel familiar, though a bit cozier, with warmer colors and a fun graphic map of Italy on the floor. The back wall now features a large round window showcasing the kitchen, a traditional feature in their restaurants.

Reservations can be made on Resy. For now, they are planning to serve lunch (brunch on the weekends will be coming later), and two dinner seatings. All reservations are inside the restaurant for now until they open the dining platform in the next few weeks.

On Thursday afternoon, we got a chance to taste one of those special items, created by Chef Constantino Guzzo, who has come from Palermo, Sicily to helm the kitchen. His Ravioloni Alluvo, a handmade ravioli stuffed with ricotta, spinach, egg yolk, butter, and Parmigiano sauce with shaved black truffle, was pretty amazing, as well as the spaghetti Carbons which might be on the brunch menu. Needless to say, we are looking forward to dinner on Saturday.

While we were there, we also got to raise a glass and toast Larchmont’s newest business opening with a celebratory cocktail with Arazm and her Toronto-based partner Cosimo Mammoliti, founder of the Terroni brand.

We were joined by Gary Gilbert, Windsor Square resident, who, along with Heather Boylston and John Kaliski, helped us organize the Larchmont 2021 Community Conversation series, where the issue of alcohol licensing on Larchmont was discussed at length after several restaurants sought to take advance of the city’s alcohol beverage program during the pandemic, to make up for lost revenue. Most residents said they supported allowing restaurants that qualify for the City of LA’s alcohol beverage program to get a license to serve cocktails.

Gilbert began the toasts yesterday, saying “One small step for a man, one giant leap for Larchmont,” adding, “if these wonderful drinks are an indication of what La Bettola is going to bring to the Boulevard, they are going to be a welcome addition to our already great street,” added Gilbert. Le Bettola offers a full bar as well as beer and wine and non-alchoholic drinks.

Sitting at the custom-made marble table in the front of the restaurant, the sense of excitement from the community was on full display as wellwishers stopped by to say hello and peak inside as the paper covering the windows was coming down.

Mammoliti, who is in town for the opening, told us Larchmont felt like his hometown of Toronto, filled with neighborhood streets and small shopping districts like Larchmont.

“This is wonderful, we really feel a part of the neighborhood,” said Mammoliti.

We left so Arazm and Mammoliti could get the staff ready to host family and friends, including local Italian chefs, later that evening to give the kitchen a chance to practice before tonight’s opening.