Bucato

Love this place. Food taste great. Especially love the pasta dishes. Portions are small. But filling. Very flavorful and fresh. Never had a problem getting a table. Staff is friendly. Parking is easy with free valet.
The only time there was a problem was one time I wanted to take picture of my food and the server came over and said no pictures. I thought that was super strange since I had taken pictures there before and after since. My sister who was with me, guess it was because a celebrity was sitting near us (not going to tell you who!). I thought that was a little rude since I wasn’t even pointing my phone in that direction.
Otherwise I enjoy coming here and definitely intend to go back.

Bucato is a very very nice and interesting restaurant in Culver City. It was recommended that I have my graduation dinner here by a friend who lives in Culver City, and I’m glad I got to try it out while I was in LA. It was easy enough to make a reservation and change it several times (graduation is a hectic time!) and the people who work here were all very nice. Being from Hawaii and all, I was sporting a very beautiful haku lei to dinner and one of the hosts commented that I had a very pretty «halo» LOL.
There is a valet parking lot shared by many of the other establishments in the area. Once you drop off your car at the valet, it is a short walk to the restaurant. The restaurant is nicely decorated, they have both an indoor seating area and an outside seating area. Even though it doesn’t get terribly cold in LA, they do have warmers outside and I ended up being thankful, as it was a bit nippy in may.
Bucato serves european/​american food, but small portion, family style… like pupus, but fancy and a bit expensive. We tried most of the things on the menu. I really enjoyed the octopus, fried cauliflower and pappardelle. From what I understand, the menu changes though. The service was exceptional, the flavors and variety in the dishes were excellent and I was happy to celebrate by graduation with my family at Bucato.

The food was good but be warned, tiny portions. Also we brought two kids under the age 3, definitely not a baby friendly place. They did have high chairs.
The service was good and the outdoor patio was very nice.
Food wise:
The menu always changing!
We tried the fried cauliflower «Sicilian style» it has lemony tang to it with capers.
Of the 4 pastas we ordered, we liked the orochiette (ear shaped pasta) brocollini and sausage. The other 3 has no meat… One tomato sauce one, pesto pistachio one (interesting texture) and the one with just cheese and black pepper.
Very nice home made pasta, the focaccia as appetizer was fluffy with rosemary/​olive oil

We FINALLY made it to Bucato! I’ve been wanting to go for ages! Before we even left we were planning our next visit. I was so happy when I saw they take lunch reservations (they don’t take dinner reservations) though it wasn’t at all packed yesterday (even though it was fathers day) so you might not need them!
We struggled a little finding Bucato because the signage isn’t at all prominent. They have white banners, on a white building that say bucato really small. They have 2 patios, one at the front and one at the back of the restaurant. It was a glorious day so of course we sat outside.
Our sever was friendly, helpful and attentive and helped us make our meal selections. We started with a nice bottle of processo, which was the perfect accompaniment to our meal on a warm day. The panzanella salad and the escarole salad were both perfectly dressed with nice subtle dressings that didn’t overpower the dish. The escarole salad was so simple but so good! While we were eating it we were talking about trying to recreate at home. Next we had the Italian panini that came conveniently sliced in to 3 sections so it was easy to share, the bread was fresh and warm and every bite was delicious!
I’d read that you HAVE to try their pastas, since they are all house made so we got the Stringozzi which is their signature pasta and the Gnocchetti with pistachio pesto. They were both amazing! They came out perfectly al dente, I’m not sure I’ve ever had gnocchi that was cooked so perfectly! My mouth is watering just thinking about their wonderful pasta.
For dessert we had the flourless chocolate cake which was served with caramel and french vanilla gelato, it was the perfect finish to a fantastic meal! Run, don’t walk to Bucato!

The odds were stacked against us when I walked in with a party of 8– 6 brazilians, 2 americans, and not very much english being spoken. Dining with my chatty group has proven to be a challenge before– we get distracted away from the menus, from the server, from ordering or even eating. It’s a dragged out meal and I often find myself apologetically asking servers to come back, or feeling slightly frustrated that no one is as focused on the food as they should be.
But here we were, with an incredibly patient, upbeat and understanding staff that helped us navigate the menu, take our time, and get things delivered when they were needed. As distracted as this group was, we all had to marvel at the dishes being served. To start, the highlight was the bread with ricotta and honey– it was silky and seductive. The fried cauliflower was a table favorite, crunchy and addictive. For pastas, since we were a big group we ordered all the ones they had on the menu. The groups’ favorite was the squid ink pasta, my favorite was probably the cacio e pepe or the ravioli– but they were all excellent. As my first time, this dinner was after Funke left the kitchen, but I truly believe his legacy and technique lived on. Sadly, no one else was interested in dessert so I had to pretend like I wasn’t either. next time.
The one thing I disliked about the place was that the server suggested we go «family style» with all the dishes. I normally love this approach but it seemed a little inconvenience and just generally awkward with the small pasta servings. Pasta dishes that small are difficult to parse out and some were too shy to get a real taste. I wish we all just ordered our own plates or shared it between 2 people, not more. I will try this approach next time we go.

Found this restaurant when I was doing a search for good «Cacio e Pepe», which is my favorite pasta dish! It’s a simple dish — basically pecorino cheese & black pepper with spaghetti, but you’d be amazed how well some restaurants make them, and how bad others do.
Bucato got the Cacio e Pepe dish down just right! It was terrific. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the pecorino cheese & black pepper blended together very well. The only thing I wish is that the portion size was bigger!
We also got the fried cauliflower as an appetizer, which by the way, is phenomenal! Very tasty & crunchy. And we ordered a nice bottle of wine, which we let the server recommend. Everything went together so well.
The service was outstanding. Very cheerful greeting and very attentive throughout the meal.
I’m giving this place 4 stars instead of 5 because it’s a bit small in terms of restaurant size, and due to the location, parking is limited unless you valet, which is what we ended up doing. There are some other cool restaurants in that same area, such as Fathers Office, so you can always walk to that place afterwards for cocktails.

I have so many LA restaurants bookmarked. It’s almost overwhelming when I come to LA, because it means I’ll have to make a difficult decision on which one (or two) restaurants to try out of the many on my list.
Somehow Bucato was the winning nomination for a try this go round.
We were seated quickly on the back patio after arriving. It was a little chilly that night, but the heat lamps were plenty warm as the staff promised.
Here’s what we ordered:
+FOCACCIA BREAD (⁵⁄₅) — You have a choice between a more traditional baguette style loaf and the focaccia. We opted for the focaccia and it was perfection. Served warm out of the oven, perfectly touched up with olive oil and salt. Bread from heaven, seriously good.
+SPAGHETTI W/​BLACK PEPPER (³⁄₅) — Not the star dish of the night for me, but my wife and daughter loved it and disagreed with my ³⁄₅ assessment. I’m the *most* Italian out of the three of us, so one could argue that I’m most qualified to judge, but hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion! :) This dish is over-​hyped in my opinion, chatted up way too much in the reviews. OK at best, and personally, I would not order this again.
+RICOTTA FILLED RAVIOLI (⁵⁄₅) — This dish had an Italian name that started with a ‘C’, but I can’t remember for the life of me. So technically they were not ravioli, the outside pasta portion of the ravioli was thin, not thick, reminded me of won ton wrappers. This dish was great and I would order again. I loved the touch of honey in the dish. Very nice. Would order again.
+FRIED CAULIFLOWER (³⁄₅) — Again, super talked-​up in Unilocal reviews so a bit over-​hyped in my opinion. I thought it was a good dish, but not crazy good as the reviews seem to indicate. I liked the capers that brought the salty bite but it lacked something that I’m unable to articulate. I like my own cauliflower at home better than this, and when I feel like I can make it better at home, I usually won’t order again. My table mates disagreed once again and said they loved it. I’m not sure if at this point they were just purposely trying to be disagreeable, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and I’ll report here that they found the dish delicious.
+RADICCHIO SALAD (⁴⁄₅) — Very good. We shared it, and it was gone in seconds. Simple dressing of olive oil and lemon, and had some sweetness brought on by some chopped dates. Who woulda thought? Would order again.
+SPICY PORK MEATBALLS (⁴⁄₅) — 3 saucy meatballs served piping hot, not very spicy at all for us, but very tasty. A bit underdone for me, and worried me a bit as the center was a bit pink and cooler than the exterior. But still very good and would order again, hoping that next time they are cooked all the way through.
+GRILLED OCTOPUS (⁵⁄₅) — Very different approach here, the nicely charred, tender octopus came on a bed of saucy garbanzo beans. The octopus was definitely the star of the show, but the bean mixture was almost equally tantalizing. Something very addictive about that sauce that the garbanzo beans were sitting in. Would order again.
The staff was delightful (I don’t use that word often, but these people deserve it). From check in to meal’s end, they were all perfect. Genuinely friendly and helpful, perfect examples of what wait staff should be and act like. I wish I knew their names so that I could mention them here.
This is a five star establishment, no doubt in my mind. Kudos to the chef. Though not every one of his dishes wowed me, he really knows what he (or she) is doing in the kitchen. I admire his skills and am inspired by the food and flavors he created. Kudos also to the owner/​manager who trained his staff well.
So glad that we picked Bucato out of a long list of LA restaurants waiting to be tried. The restaurants that *didn’t* get chosen may have to wait a bit longer, because I’m afraid on our next trip to LA, We may not get to them. We might just come back here!

The Mr’s friends suggested this place for our double date and wow! What a great recommendation! To start we rarely head out to Culver City, but we’re always pleasantly surprised whenever we do!
I was just only able to take one photo until I got caught up in the drinks and the chatter that forgot to continue to take more.
It’s tapas style so you order a bunch of dishes and pig out like so!
This is a list of what we had over the weekend:
— Filone bread — it’s a baguette but it’s very very crunchy and soft and hot! The Wisconsin better was very good and addicting. I typically don’t eat butter with my bread and would also opt for olive oil and vinegar. ⁵⁄₅
— Spicy pork meatballs — The Mr and his friend’s favorite dish of the evening! ⁵⁄₅
— fried artichoke — soooo good and SO pretty! ⁵⁄₅
— Fried cauliflower– may be a bit too sour for some and it was fried too long so some pieces were too soft for my liking. I like them to still have a bit of crunch to them. ³⁄₅
— Spaghetti alla Chitarra — THIS is their signature dish. My girlfriend had mentioned that Jonathan Gold said it was his favorite Italian dish, and even though Bucato makes the dish differently than his childhood, he still likes how they make it here. Basically it’s large spaghetti, with cheese and a bunch of cracked peppered. Supposedly very difficult to prepared because the pasta has to be cooked to just a certain level of al Dante. ⁶⁄₅!
— orecchiette — another one of the Mr’s favorites ⁵⁄₅. He likes sausage, and I don’t so I just ate the pasta.
— Casonsei — this was one of my favorites– it reminds me of butternut squash ravioli! A very sweet dish, it’s almost like you’re eating candy. The sage was such a nice addition and compliments the dish well. ⁵⁄₅
— Calamari — this is NOT your traditional calamari. It’s not coated with batter and fried. But the server told us this and the Mr likes calamari like this. I had just ONE ring. I didn’t like it and neither did my girlfriend lol. It gets a ²⁄₅
— pork rib chop — AMAZING dish! Cooked perfectly, but yet still very juicy and lots of sweet aromatic flavors. My husband said next time he’s just going to order that as his entrée and skip the tapa/​sharing. ⁶⁄₅!
For desserts we had affogato, tiramisu, and rhubarb peach cobbler. The affogato is not meant to be shared because it’s very very small, and since my husband was the one that got that it was all his. My girlfriend likes rhubarb so she completely finished the cobbler. The desserts were about 3.5÷5
The Mr ordered us an amazing red wine! I will get the name from him later and update it. All I remember was that it came in a very pretty, tall and slender glass.
Cheers!

It’s hard to be surprised when all you hear about a place is excessive praise… often times these places meet the expectations, and sometimes they’re let downs, but rarely do the lofty seemingly hyperbolic things you hear not even begin to describe how good a restaurant is.
Bucato is one of those situations. Quite simply put, the best pasta I’ve ever had. It probably helped that I sat at the bar and had the perfect wine pairing suggestions from bartender Liam… the cacio e pepe is the absolute star of the show here, and the glass of white that I had with it was perfect. Just perfect. The duck ragu (I think that’s what it was?) was also paired with the ideal glass of red for the dish.
Everything else was ridiculously good as well, from the squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese to the completely divine bread to the overall atmosphere.
This was among the top few meals I’ve experienced in my life. I waited about a month to write this just so that I’d be sure of these sentiments and not writing out of any kind of exaggeration at all. Evan Funke is a master of his craft, and I can’t wait to go back.

We ordered 3 appetizers to share amongst 4 of us: the baguette with salmon roe dip, fried cauliflower, and grilled octopus. We naturally had to pay for the dip but the bread was an additional cost as well which was surprising. Fried cauliflower was apparently one of the more popular dishes; however it did not live up to expectations. It didn’t have much flavor and simply tasted like garlic and olive oil. The octopus wasn’t anything special either.
The main courses that we ordered were the rib eye steak, macaroni rabbit ragu, squid ink gnocchetti, and the black pepper spaghetti. I had the macaroni rabbit ragu and although the portion was pretty small, it tasted great. Enough flavor and the meat was cooked perfectly. Good amount of cheese and just enough sauce. The other main courses were good as well from what I heard from the others.
Overall, service was what you expect from a nice restaurant like this. Nothing special. Food was pretty much what I expected as well for its price. Portions a little too small and I left with a half-​empty stomach.
3.5÷5 stars

I went to dinner at Bucato last night with TV network executives. It was a work/​dinner meeting with seven people. The food and drinks were flowing. It could have been a recipe for a successful night but alas … it was not!
RATINGS:
DECOR/​VIBE: Open loft space vibe to it. Hip and trendy. Pretentious
FOOD: Was excellent, it really was. We tried different dishes but I had my favorites
RIB EYE: tender and flavorful
PAPPARDELE: it was so good, I didn’t want to share
SPICY MEATBALLS: Simple but delicious
PRICE: The portion is small for the price but since the food is excellent, you won’t mind paying for it.
SERVICE: Was ok, food came in at the right time, took dirty plates ASAP. But, the staff’s attitude was horrendous!
We made a reservation for 7. They sat us on a booth for 4. We asked if we could be moved, they said that «we will try» but all we saw was eyes rolling from the wait staff. They ended up just giving us two extra chairs.
We ordered a flourless chocolate cake, tiramisu and a couple of individual gelato for dessert. The tiramisu was presented on a small plate, no fanfare, and no presentation whatsoever. It’s fine, it was still good. But the flourless chocolate cake was «presented» on a long white plate … period. I’ve uploaded the picture. We were curious to know why the big long plate, we asked the waiter and his response made me want to slap the living shit out of him. He answered in a condensing tone with «Why, do you guys need another one? Because the cake is heavy and I can guarantee that you guys won’t finish it.» On the way out, we met the chef and asked him the same exact question … his answer was classic douche bag response. «negative space» NEGATIVE SPACE! Well, my response was «DOUCHE BAG».
ETC.: Bathroom was a public restroom outside the restaurant, make sure you remember the code! You are not allowed to take pictures of the food. DOUCHE BAG!
BOTTOM LINE: It’s unfortunate that the management has the «doesn’t give a F*** attitude» since the food was really good. But if you don’t give a F***, I don’t either.

I need to write this review QUICK before I completely forget that I had ever eaten here.
The highlight of this Helms eatery is the knife sculpture on the wall. The rest was so so. You know you are in trouble when the bread is the most exciting part of the meal.
Most of the seating is outside — there are a few nice tables for two indoors.
THE FOOD:
Focaccia: This aforementioned bread was as perfect as bread can be. Soft, salty and sweet it was flavoed atop with aromatic rosemary. I would come for this.
Gnocchetti Pesto: The Gnoccheti itself was perfect but the pesto fell flat for me.
Fried Rabbit: This was kind of a mess. I think it was new to the menu but it took FOREVER to prepare — it came out overcooked to the point of being almost jerky — the meat was indistinguishable from the bone. It had nothing by way of flavor and was plated with some moistened arugula — really disappointing.
It not bad by any means — but I will not be back.

I was so excited to dine here. And the food is good. But the service is SO BAD that I don’t think I’d ever return.
Party of 6 for dinner. Really odd service. Lots of rotation in servers who refuse to do anything other than «I’ll get your server» who never comes and even if you waved your hand above your ahead would just nod in return but take ages to come over.
No idea how a restaurant runs out of focaccia and filone bread on a Saturday night by 9pm. And they weren’t even that busy. Unforgivable and extremely poor planning on the staffs part. We’re at the helms baking district for goodness sakes, your an essentials 38 restaurant, you have off the beaten path reservation policies/​restaurant policies and you can’t keep a filler like bread prepared? One star off just for that.
Food ordered:
Squash blossoms — yummmmy
Panzanella salad — excellent
Radicchio salad — outstanding
Shapghetti chitarra– WOW!
Squid ink crab gnocchi — yum
Rabbit macherroni — really good
Casonsei-​OMG
Halibut-​meh
Rib eye-​more please!
Chocolate torte-​really good
Tiramisu– great
For 6 people this wasn’t enough food but how would we know? Our server did not guide us in any way. We told him we hadn’t been here, we were hungry and to let us know what/​how we should order. He was helpful only when asked a question. And he never followed up with common «how is everything?/anything more». After he brought dessert out, he just brought the check to the table.
The ladies who are jr servers/​busboys have intense attitude. I don’t know if management encourages the waitstaff to behave this way or its a natural predisposition. You’re in culver city, not Hollywood. Keep the attitude in check with your zip code. those of use who are willing to spend the money for the fabulous food and are willing to trek it out to culver city can easily swap out a plethora of Italian places that make comparable fare and give you service with a smile.
Disappointing service trumps the Italian fare. Perhaps the only time we’ll return is when we’re shopping in the area.

Excellent service, food, and drinks. Came here mid-​week during lunch. Since there wasn’t an easily visible sign, we weren’t sure we were in the right place. We were quickly seated (with a reservation) at a corner outdoor table.
I highly recommend the cauliflower for an app. Even people who don’t typically like cauliflower loved this dish!
The dishes are made to share but my party ordered a dish to each person. The meatball sandwich looked amazing and was huge. I had the orecchiette, which was surprisingly pretty spicy, but delicious. The sauce was perfect.

Since bookmarking this restaurant for an year, i finally came here with my daughter last night. It was fun and a great experience.
Came here 745pm, there was very crowded and we had to wait until 800pm that i reserved earlier. We sat outside and ordered one focaccia and the two pastas; spaghetti alla chitarra and rabbit ragu. The pasta itself was well hand-​made and delicious. but i liked the foccachia more.
Service was very friendly, ambience was contemporary and casual, and parking was complimentary on the parking lot. But the restaurant is smaller than i thought and the price was a little bit steep.
This is a perfect place for weekdays after work.

Mama Mia!
Due to water damage, I was displaced from my home and eat all of my meals out. Lucky me! Sometimes…
It was Sunday night, but I had no reservation and was dining alone. Just figured I’d try my luck and see if I could get a table. I was casually dressed.
The hostess was not the friendliest individual I’ve ever met. She started to point to an outside table and chair. I told her because of a disability, I needed to sit in a booth. She stared back coldly and offered to give me the worst table in the house near the entrance with bunches of people pushing by including wait staff. I said, no thanks, I didn’t mind waiting a little while for a better table like the two empties I pointed to further into the restaurant. She said those were reserved, I then asked her about the vacant one all the way in the back. She said, well let me see. Finally, she relented and escorted me to that table.
After quite a wait, a waitress asked me if I wanted water. Out came a lukewarm glass of H2o. Ick! When I looked around at other tables, I saw people enjoying water with actual ice cubes in it and lemon slices. I asked for a «real» glass of ice water.
Following another protracted wait, a waiter finally showed up.
I’m half Sicilian and told him he’d better bring it! For a second, he looked at me with a deadpan face, then cracked a slight smirk.
There appears to be a pervasive lack of humor and good spirits among the wait staff in this eatery. I wonder why?
I ordered focaccia. It was pretty, but very bland. Five bucks for a little, round loaf… it should’ve been out of this world! My Italian palate had this reaction: meh. In an Italian restaurant, I think it’s sacrilegious to charge for bread!
For the main, I selected the Casonsei ricotta, prosciutto de Parma, sage, radicchio, brown butter and wildflower honey.
Like many of the reviewers on here, I agree with them, the portions are too damn tiny for the price. This smacks of greed and is just tacky.
If my Sicilian, Italian mama had seen this, she would have smacked the chef and the owner! When people came over to my house to eat, their plates were piled high with steaming, delicious Italian fare. In our house, no one ever left hungry! You see, that’s how Italians show love.
The pasta was decent. Little ravioli like pillows with some unusual combinations of flavors. However, they need to tweak this dish. The brown butter was so heavy, it was overwhelming and made it greasy.
I must include my BFF, foodie partner’s review. After all, since the focaccia was the only thing I had left over to bring home in a doggy box, that’s all poor King Tux was able to sample. He gave it a one paw rating.
Ciao Bella!

The focaccia is a must-​order. The fluffiness of the bread inside was unreal. We followed this with the panzanella, verona radicchio, and fried cauliflower. The burrata in the panzanella was heavenly — definitely one of the highlights of the lunch. The radicchio was really bright and fresh and the fried cauliflower was wonderfully crispy and flavorful.
For our mains, we ordered two orders each of the stringozzi and orecchiette. The stringozzi was cooked to a really great texture and consistency. A very simple pasta, it’s prepared with just cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) and very very delicious. The orecchiette had a good amount of spice from the pork belly and chilis — definitely would recommend. I only wish the pork belly were a bit more present/​obvious.
We also requested to order just the spicy pork meatballs (without the panini). The chef and waiter were gracious and let us do so, even though the meatballs a la carte are only offered on the dinner menu. The meatballs were perfectly crispy on the outside and covered in a really fresh roasted tomato sauce.
Really awesome that the food here is eaten family style so we were able to try a lot of the menu. The service was great and all of our dishes arrived promptly. I suggest eating outside on their patio if it’s a nice day!

Bucato is an elegant date night venue for dinner, and now brunch. Hand-​made pastas are created every day on-​site by skilled chefs, ingredients are crisply fresh, beautifully plated, service is top-​notch. Reservations can only be made the day-​of, so call early. Largest seating options is around 8 people, so keep your groups small and intimate. No cell phones allowed, no pictures allowed– why? Because Chef wants guests to be focused on their experience at the restaurant; he wants them to be in the moment, as if their taste buds’ virginity is being taken for the first time… and because flash photography isn’t flattering for any dish!
I’m not a fan of dining with my honey at prescribed «date» two-​top tables… so I made a 9:00pm reservation on a Saturday night to sit at the bar, the most interesting and exciting place to sit at Bucato. Seating at the bar allows diners to view every guest approaching the host stand, as well as first glimpse of every dish being inspected by Head Chef Evan Funke for quality control before it reaches the tables of guests. The bartenders (and servers) are interesting, knowledgable individuals, and sitting at the bar sometimes allows for deeper discussions than the servers are able to offer, especially on busy nights.
Dishes are meant to be shared, so don’t order a plate of pasta for yourself and be sad over the small portions. You’re probably not going to fill up from a few tablespoons of pasta, but this isn’t a restaurant you come merely to fill up on the food… you’re coming to actually TASTE the food– one bite of Stringozzi: Caccio e Peppe and I knew instantly this wasn’t your typical cheese and pepper spaghetti plate. The handmade, fresh pasta actually carries its own flavor! Its got an earthiness I’ve never experienced from pasta before. However, with a couple of appetizers, or a main dish, you’ll leave Bucato stuffed and in ecstasy from foodgasm.
I spent $ 100.00 on 3 smooth, culinary-​appropriate beers, the beautifully plated Figs w/​burrata and pistachio, fried Sicilian-​style Cauliflower, snappy, plump Prawns, comfort-​food Macaroni di Busa (duck ragu), and flourless Chocolate Torte for dessert, which came with the most delectable pine nut brittle sprinkled on top, oh my yum… Compliments from the Chef, he had hooked us up with the Fried Squash Blossoms before we even saw the menu, of which I am hugely appreciative! There’s mint infused into the airy, whipped goat cheese stuffed into those big, colorful blossoms– definitely a treat!
I can’t wait to come back and have another opportunity to try the other dishes. The menu changes almost nightly, so come hungry, with deep pockets, and zero expectations.

Bucato translates from Italian, to mean laundry. This space was at-​one-​time, occupied by a laundry in this cool ’30’s-era industrial bakery of Helm’s. The one-​page menu spans, probably centuries-​old delicacies (squash blossoms stuffed w/​goat cheese & mint) combining seasonal vegetables with sharpness, over very-​fresh pasta.
Chef Evan Funke, can really dish-​it-​out, one all-​the more delectable than-​the previous.
The delicious egg pasta of pappardelle, in a lamb ragu ($ 16) was certainly spun-​on-​delicate (ly). I learned the cycle — is a lot like laundry washed-​by-​hand, the pasta is mixed-​by-​hand; rolled-​out-​by-​hand; and shaped-​by-​hand. Fa bene!
This place is Italian. Starting with the breads (pane $ 5) filone a classic everyday Italian yeast bread, with a texture and crumb similar to a baguette — is served with goat butter and ash salt. The lighter focaccia rosemary, has a shinny coat of olive oil & sea salt and is-​as-​soft-​as a croissant, and served as a whole un-​cut round loaf.
The Spuntini (or snacks) offer figs with burrata ($ 14); pork meatballs ($ 14) — served in cast iron, are 4 per order, in a roasted tomato & parmigiano reggiano — they are well-​seasoned and tasteful. The fried cauliflower ($ 10) «sicilian style» was our table-of-five’s only dish not absolutely-​appreciated. It was browned in a skillet with parmigano, black pepper, vinegar, honey, and perhaps capers — cauliflower is my least favorite vegetable, and just can’t be disguised. We tried all four spuntini, including the aforementioned squash blossoms.
The Fattoria, which are selections from «the farm» vegetables, salads. Choose the wild arugula with walnuts, shave onion, just-​the-​right-​amount of lemon, and parmigiano ($ 11). It is savory and nutritiously balanced.
The Star-​of-​the-​Sea, (Mare) and dinner-​fare is the Idaho Trout stuffed with string beans «all“arrabiata, with a sprinkling of bread crumbs ($ 24) — it is scrupulously seared. The Pork Chop ($ 28), offered under Campo — or the range; field — was perfectly grilled and accompanied with San Luis Obispo’s See Canyon’s Peaches, perfectly paired & prepared: A few chanterelles and fresh basil finished-​it-​off, a Master Chef’s masterpiece.
Wine Steward, Matthew Polley heightened our dining experience with his knowledge to best compliment the subtle characteristics of our palate making worthy our dining experience. We selected two bottles of Olivella «Kata» Catalanesca Del Monte Somma ’12 ($ 56). The List is impassioned and impressive — dozens of small Italian & French wineries from celebrated appellations.
It is easy to imagine that you are dining in a country restaurant in Italy, with doting servers, & just a scattering of tables around an open kitchen (we did not sit outdoors on either of the two patios). No pictures adorn the walls. No front door of which to enter. Cell phones and photography expressly prohibited (we asked permission).
The aesthetic is minimal décor & modest portions. The distinction of Bucato is taste and everything tasteful.

I don’t think my friends were that excited about our Bucato experience, mostly because the portions are super tiny for the prices, especially for the pasta, but I came in knowing what to expect and really enjoyed the food. With that said, I am iffy on returning because of the above, plus the weirdness of photos being frowned upon (although I snuck some in) and not being able to make reservations until the day of.
If you go, try all of their pastas and if available, the crispy polenta and the lamb chops (soo good even for non-​lamb fans!). Skip the «foccacia», it’s weirdly mushy.