Andre’s Recasts Itself--Sort of--in Beverly Hills
The pianist launched into “Arrivederci, Roma” just as scenes of the Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona and the Colosseum flickered onto a home movie screen unfurled behind the white baby grand. We were off on a sentimental tour of Italy’s best-known regions and monuments: Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan, Sicily.
All this for the price of dinner at the long-running Wilshire Boulevard restaurant, Andre’s, which has just reopened under new ownership--and with La Trattoria di Beverly Hills appended to its name. Over bowls of pasta e fagioli, tomato-smeared rounds from a wood-burning pizza oven and plates heaped with fettucine bolognese and spinach- and ricotta-stuffed ravioli, opening-week customers listened, bemused, clapping politely at the end of each song. That’s Italia, Beverly Hills style.
* Andre’s La Trattoria di Beverly Hills, 8635 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 657-2446. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Major credit cards accepted. Valet parking. Appetizers $6.75-$7.75; entrees $8.50-$14.50.
