The two month old restaurant’s name is misleading, inducing you to believe that the menu items are all a work in progress. On the contrary, Michelin-trained Chef Jackson Kalb has exhibited his mastery and experience in his ability to quickly serve up one exceptional dish after another, maintaining the integrity of quality and complexity of tastes in each and every bite. He has transformed the standard Italian fare into something I would categorize as humbly sophisticated. At first glance, the dishes appear as if they could have emerged from your Italian mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen but that notion of homeliness is immediately extinguished with one bite of the intricate dishes. Encapsulated into each dish is the perfect commingling of flavors, textures and spices.

We started with the brussels sprouts and combined its substantial smoky robust flavor with the contrasting light, crisp leaves of romaine in the spicy Caesar salad which had a touch, a sprinkling of a citrus vinegar dressing. Next to be served was the “Hollywood” tagliatelle which had just a hint of meat and sauce, enough to accentuate each bite of the hand rolled pasta. It was followed shortly with a very different, but by no means inferior, pasta dish. The bavette’s crowning achievement was the stracciatella di bufala which oozed into the crevices of the silky strands of dark ink pasta and was interspersed with little jewels of rock shrimp. As if that wasn’t decadent enough, we finished off the dinner portion with the very lean and subtly seasoned “eye of the rib.” Underneath the tender slices of beef was a thin coating of potato purée providing a sampling of a meat and potato dish for those so in need. We ended our Enoteca immersion with a nod to our childhood, encapsulated in the form of a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie.

Workshop Enoteca’s offerings are exceptional in flavor, quality and value, the trifecta of a winning foodie combination, and is destined to be our second home in the weeks and months to come.

241 Main Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

https://www.eatworkshop.com