Cantalini's Salerno Beach

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION

Cantalini's occupies a corner room on Culver Boulevard that feels like it has been exactly this warm and unhurried for decades. Handmade pastas, fresh seafood, and a wine list without pretension. The room fills with regulars who have been coming for years, and on Sunday evenings live music carries through the dining room. It is the kind of neighborhood Italian restaurant that most Los Angeles neighborhoods no longer have.

OPERATOR STORY

The building on Culver Boulevard has been an Italian restaurant since the early 1960s, when a family from Salerno, Italy opened Giovanni's Salerno Beach Restaurant on this corner. The current family has owned and operated Cantalini's since January 2000, continuing the handmade pastas, Abruzzi family recipes, and fresh seafood sourcing that have made it a Playa del Rey institution for more than 60 years.