Cuisine:

• Diner
• Fine Dining
• Italian
• Casual
• Others

Celestino Description:
An extension of Drago Ristorante, an award-winning restaurant in Santa Monica, this restaurant offers a variety of Italian regional dishes. It's upscale, so dress up. Signature dishes include eggplant timbale with tomato basil sauce, spaghetti with mixed seafood, striped bass with green lentils, roasted rabbit in a sweet-and-sour sauce, and seasonal dishes like pumpkin lasagna with fontina cheese and walnuts and chestnut soup with sautéed duck liver.
A more homey spin-off of Celestino Drago's trendy Drago in Santa Monica, this restaurant offers some of the interesting Sicilian dishes that the celebrated chef does so well. Calogero Drago hustles through the Pasadena venue, ensuring that his big brother's high standards are not compromised, although service is not as crisp as we've seen at other Drago family eateries. We've been impressed with the creamy, fresh burrata, first-rate pastas (pumpkin-filled tortelloni, penne with minced prosciutto in a vodka-infused pink sauce) and a dramatically presented beet risotto topped with molten goat cheese. Worthy starters include swordfish carpaccio with a refreshing orange-fennel salad, and smoked duck with colorful beet salad. You can find a surprisingly good, affordable Sicilian wine---as well as more prestigious Barolos---on the list, but the meager selection by the glass is unacceptable for a restaurant of this quality. Desserts range from the requisite tiramisu and flourless chocolate cake to a standout lemon meringue tart.


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