Culina Ristorante + Caffè

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Rethinking the Roman Kitchen on Doheny Drive

Culina Ristorante + Caffè occupies a distinct place among Los Angeles Italian restaurants. Set within the Four Seasons on South Doheny Drive, it operates from a clear premise: Italian culinary heritage deserves to be honored, not merely replicated. The result is a contemporary Italian dining room where DOP products sourced directly from Italy meet the seasonal abundance of Southern California's farms and markets.

The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Jesus Medina and Executive Pastry Chef Riccardo Menicucci. Together they shape a menu that moves comfortably between tradition and invention — handmade pastas, a vibrant crudo bar featuring yellowtail with green apple and avocado or bluefin tuna with agrumato oil, and artisanal pizzas fired in an outdoor Neapolitan-style oven. The seasonal burrata arrives with grilled stone fruit, pickled fennel, and aged balsamic; the RC Salad pairs lobster and Dungeness crab over an iceberg wedge. These are dishes that know exactly what they are.

California Light, Italian Soul

The outdoor space draws its spirit from the Italian Riviera filtered through a Beverly Hills sensibility. A Mediterranean-style garden surrounds guests with citrus trees, a living succulent wall, and a floating fire feature — the kind of setting that makes a lunch feel unhurried and a dinner feel like an occasion. Indoors and out, the atmosphere is warm without being formal, sophisticated without requiring effort from the guest.

The wine list earned Culina a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, a recognition that reflects the depth of Italian vintages on offer alongside well-chosen California selections. It is the sort of list that rewards both the curious and the committed.

From Breakfast Through Dinner

Culina runs the full arc of the day. Breakfast brings freshly baked pastries — cotto and fontina croissants, mango lime braided croissants, a proper Culina cinnamon roll — alongside egg dishes ranging from a truffle and fontina omelette to shakshuka with feta and grilled sourdough. Weekend brunch extends the garden experience into the late morning. Dinner is where the Italian cuisine finds its fullest expression, with the crudo bar and wood-fired oven anchoring a menu that shifts with what Southern California's farms are producing.

For private events, Culina offers dedicated dining rooms suited to corporate gatherings, rehearsal dinners, and celebrations of all kinds — a natural extension of a restaurant that treats hospitality as seriously as it treats the food.