Drago Ristorante Catering Brings Authentic Sicilian to Events

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Our first take-home food of this year was the superb choice of Drago Catering.  Sumptuous lasagna, silky-rich carrot soup and apple tart were delicious the first evening and for a month afterward.

 

The Drago family of chefs has over 9 restaurants to their credit and now adds an upscale Italian restaurant and event site,  cal Drago Ristorante located inside the Petersen Automotive Museum.  Public dining is available on the side patio.  One of the last events before lockdown in LA was a party honoring the place.  Thinned out rush hour traffic was already noticeable, and people fist-bumped, or at times with me got a welcome, spontaneous hug.    It was a party to remember for the food, the friendly faces and the hospitality as usual with the Drago brothers. Because all else fades when these brothers are around.

The Drago family has owned and operated some of the most famous high-end Italian restaurants in Los Angeles, California, since the 1980s.    They are widely known for their pasta dishes, with dry pasta now being available for sale; breads now baked in a commissary kitchen that supplies a multitude of restaurants near and far, with the best pretzel buns on the planet (that were the hit at LA FARM).  They are also pillars of the culinary community; there is scarcely a charity benefit without the Drago restaurants famous food and friendly faces.   The family includes four brothers:  Tanino, Calogero, Celestino, and Giacomino.   Celestino brought over three of his brothers from the family restaurant in Messina to launch the other branches of the business .

 

Giacomino is co-owner of 11 Los Angeles restaurants—including Beverly Hills’ Il Pastaio and Via Alloro. Both restaurants.  Both of these places “go against the grain.  Via Alloro is in a space that was a revolving door for restaurant after restaurant before it came and settled in a decade ago.  Il Pastaio on a quiet corner of Cañon sprang alive since it opened.  Even during the recession where every other restaurant in the city was almost empty, the place was so packed all hours of the day, including the outdoor patio, you would think they were giving away food.

Celestino Drago immigrated to Los Angeles from Sicily in the mid-1970s, and held his first job with Osteria Romana Orsini on Pico Boulevard as a chef before leaving to launch Celestino.  His seminal Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills closed but has been re-created in Pasadena under the same name, in a sprawling series of dining rooms, private party areas and patios on famous Lake Street.