Empire Building

IDG Partnering With Gino Angelini For New Italian Restaurant

Gino Angelini cooking at AWFF 2009
Gino Angelini cooking at AWFF 2009 Photo: Hadley Tomicki

Big news comes from Innovative Dining Group this morning, as the company behind Sushi Roku, BOA, Delphine, and Katana sends out a press release on a yet-to-be-named Italian restaurant project with chef Gino Angelini, coming to West Hollywood next fall. Last we checked in with IDG, plans looked certain for an Italian concept named Soleto to hit Downtown in the former space of Zucca with Delphine’s Sascha Lyon cooking. In what sounds like a completely separate project, the Angelini restaurant will take over 8,000 square feet of the closed Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset, with half of the eatery dedicated to a Chinese fine-dining concept we know even less about right now.

The look of Angelini’s place will be “rustic Tuscan farmhouse,” while early menu projections say there could be “artisan pizzas” (not like the same item at Domino’s, we’re guessing) and pastas for lunch, and a bigger range of offerings at night that riff on the classic, straight-forward techniques found at Angelini Osteria and Vincenti.

We tend to look at IDG’s moves with less suspicion than we do SBE’s, though the company appears to be taking a page from Sam Nazarian’s own book, taking a well-regarded toque whose paid his dues and the some, and giving him a flashy, exalted stage to work on, possibly with future expansion of the brand in mind. Name and menu details to be released in the months to come. Stay tuned for more news on this potentially exciting development.

IDG Partnering With Gino Angelini For New Italian Restaurant