Drinking Italian at Enoteca Drago

We took a friend from out of town to dinner the other night, and because she's an avowed foodie who likes good wine, we decided to take her to Enoteca Drago in Beverly Hills, a wine bar and trattoria-style restaurant that promises to bring a little bit of Italy into your life. Conveniently located on a relatively quiet street (read: not Rodeo Drive), Enoteca Drago aims to be a comfortable place to stop in for a quick bite and a glass of wine when you're shopping, as well as to provide you with comforting food for a full dinner on the town.

After looking at the menu we decided to start with some small plates from their "Enoteca" menu, followed by pasta. The small plates were, in my mind, the highlight of the evening. We had some fresh sliced prosciutto that just melted in your mouth ($8), and some fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta that were perfectly prepared and very tasty ($12). We tried a variety of pastas, including a spelt spaghetti with fresh vegetables ($17.50), spaghetti carbonara ($13.50), and malloreddus with meat ragu ($15). There was still room for dessert, and with options like coconut flan, gelato, and affogato with biscotti there was something for everyone. My only complaint with the food was that the service felt rushed, with no room to breathe between courses and as soon as you finished your dessert the check was in front of you. The waiter didn't even ask if we wanted coffee.

While the food was perfectly good, and in the case of the small plates excellent, the problem came with the wine. You knew I was going to say that, right? One of the great draws of Enoteca Drago are the flights of Italian wine that they offer. Typically, you get three generous 2.5 oz. pours of different wines for between $15 and $30 depending on which wines are included. We each had a flight of medium bodied whites, and a flight of light-medium bodied reds. They came out with a placemat "cheat sheet" that gave some--though not all--the details for the wines tasted, i.e. the vintage and the type of wine, but not the maker. What's up with that? I insisted on keeping the wine list until we were through out of sheer determination to know what I was drinking. My favorites were the 2005 Mauro Sebaste Arneis, which was crisp and refreshing, and the 2003 Tenuta le Querce Aglianico del Vulture "Il Viola," which was like drinking plush red velvet.

The sad thing was, we were served a corked bottle of 2005 Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi. I told the waiter it was corked. My friend told the waiter it was corked. He seemed uninterested, and said, "oh, you don't like it?" We expanded our treatment of what "corked" meant: it was mildewy; the wine was flawed; "there is something wrong with this wine and you should tell the person pouring it." We returned two full glasses, and received no replacements, no we're sorry, no acknowledgment from anyone that this had even occurred. Here's my tip: if you have a wine bar, and want to serve flights at the tables, TRAIN YOUR WAITSTAFF ABOUT WINE. There's only so much of the evening your guests want to spend trying to sort out a 2.5 oz pour of wine. After 3 minutes of effort, I simply gave up. Probably the wrong decision, but there you have it.

You can see sample menus by clicking over to their website. Unfortunately, there are no wine lists online, so you can't do a pre-meal browse and see what's on offer. If you are shopping in Beverly Hills and want some small plates and a glass of wine, stop in and see what you think. For me, though, this is one of those restaurants that could be a great restaurant for wine lovers, but falls short by not training its staff on what a wine lover wants from the experience.