Peppone’s pricey old school Italian

Peppone Ristorante, Brentwood,California was the meeting place of the week, not bad for an evening of laughs and entertainment with Michael Trope, Christian Nazarian and of course me, John Nazarian. We had a nice table in a little room off the bar and it is in fact a little old New Yorkish……not in a bad way, but colorful. Whoever did this restaurant back in the day had to be from the East.

But whoever did those imitation Tiffany lamps should be taken out to the back and made to eat bad gnocchi! They were all cheap imitations and for a restaurant with these kind of prices, they should be real or at least a better copy. Or be replaced with a plain old yellow or red light bulb….high dollar joints should never use FAKE TIFFANY anything. And I have always enjoyed “red light” joints.

Back to the dinner. It seems no matter where Michael Trope and I eat, we find a celebrity or two. Tonight was no different, Tom Selleck was sitting at a table with a few older gentlemen and looked, well, like Tom Selleck.

Our food was good and we all avoided the Filet Mignon meatballs as it was my opinion that this would be an attack on our wallets! And it is a ridiculous idea to begin with. First of all, a good meatball has to have some pork in it, and as I have often stated many times, I make one of the best meatballs that I have ever tasted. And pork plays a minor role, and at the same time a major role, however big in the taste. For anyone to think that a meatball made out of filet mignon was a good thing, would have to be someone with too much money and no knowledge of what an Italian meatball is, I am done! There are other variables and if somebody wants MY recipe it will be for a fee. Moving on, I had a Caesar salad that was very good, also the fried calamari was light and not at all greasy, nice. My son Chris had a nice side of $36 risotto, this would be $7-8 in a nice Italian place as a small side, NOT HERE. His chicken was cooked in olive oil and was nicely done. Michael also had a chicken dish and there were no complaints coming from his side of the table. Stand by! Peppone’s has a steamed cauliflower dish that is not on the menu, it is delicious, it is done with what I believe was lemon and white wine, and perhaps a little butter. It was amazing and well done and served nicely. 65 buckarooos for those 3 cauliflowers. Gelson’s Supermarkets just looked like a giveaway!

Hey the bottom line is this, Peppone’s is not cheap, but the food was good, the service was very friendly and attentive and we had a great evening. Tough to complain, when Michael Trope parked his Bentley Convertible at the curb in front of the restaurant and I had parked my Bentley right behind his….it was a very L.A. moment, two white Bentleys sitting in front of a pricey Brentwood eatery.

Note: Peppone’s has a reputation for being a place that old rich guys will bring their much younger “girlfriends” and snuggle, yuk. Tonight was no exception, some old rich guy brings his “girlfriend” and they fought and snarled right next to us while they snacked on appetizers. It was great! It was like being at work for all three of us. She was very attractive and young, he was old and paid with a Black American Express card, enough said! “Love, is it not special, and very nice“, “ How much”?