Cosa Buona — Rebels Just For Kicks

So we’d been wanting to go to Cosa Buona for awhile and after one failed Friday night attempt – an hour and a half wait at 9pm – we realized that stopping in for a pre-Dodgers game dinner might be the best move. And hoorah! It was! We had the place almost to ourselves when we arrived and grabbed two seats at the bar. The food comes out really quickly here so we didn’t stress about being late for the game. Joy!

While we looked over the menu the bartender set us with drinks. He picked out an awesome Italian white for Glynn. Nice and crisp, it was a perfect match for all the cheesy deliciousness to come. Cam got a Coke in the bottle so he was pretty happy too.

The place is not huge which explains the long wait on weekends. There are a few big booths and some smaller tables up front plus a long row of seats at the bar. They do take reservations for groups of four or more so it would be easy to avoid a wait if you were planning to come with friends. The design is pretty minimal and neutral except for the red barstools. We love the old school black and white plates with the restaurant's name.

There are so many tempting snacks to start the meal it was seriously hard to choose but our server steered us to the mozzarella sticks. They were perfectly crisp and brown and seasoned on the outside and of course full of melty cheese inside. The cheese wasn’t super flavorful but they were still super satisfying with some nice chunky tomato sauce to dip in. We’ll probably go for the meatballs next time.

Glynn always insists we order a salad and we opted for the simple Green Salad which was basically her dream salad. Leafy lettuce with super thinly shaved radishes and red onion plus a sprinkle of herbs and lots of big crumbly shards of Parmesan. Yes please! It was so crisp and sharp. As with the wine, it was nice to have something refreshing to pair with all the cheesy things on the menu. There is also a classic Italian chopped salad, a little gem Caesar, and a pasta salad, which would all be great to share if you had a group.

We pretty much knew we were going to get the pepperoni pizza because we could see that it had the thin kind that forms little cups of grease – but you know in a good way. Our server said it was his fave and mentioned that the pepperoni came from a small farm on the east coast. The idea of a small farm devoted to pepperoni is slightly hilarious but also YES because the east coast is definitely the place to get the magic tiny cup forming type of pepperoni. Also the reason Cam eats multiple pieces of pizza a day when in NYC. It did not disappoint. The crust is fluffy and slightly chewy. The pizza was perfectly seasoned with out being overly salty. The pepperoni was crisp and delicious. Glynn declared it the best pepperoni pizza she had ever had. High fives all around.

Our server also suggested a side of ranch which tasted very homemade and full of fresh dill but was still a bit thick. We’re not really ranch dipping people in general so maybe we are not the best judges, but it is nice that they offer this for those who insist they NEED it with pizza. All the pizza options looked pretty solid and we will definitely be back as soon as possible to try them all. We will also be back for dinner before every Dodgers game until the end of time.