Pasta Sisters

"The second location of one of LA’s best pasta spots, Pasta Sisters at the Helms Bakery complex might be even better than the original—mainly because it’s the one where you can drink wine on a patio. Two patios, actually. Most of the bowls are build-your-own, meaning you get to choose the type of pasta and sauce (except for the clams and garlic, which they’ll only serve with spaghetti). Our favorites are the pesto with tagliatelle and bolognese with pappardelle, but when you’ve got freshly made pasta and sauces this good, you really can’t go wrong. If you’re there on Sunday, make sure you get the carbonara—it’s fantastic, and only available one day a week. We suspect that’s a good thing for our health." - brant cox, sylvio martins, garrett snyder, cathy park

"A heaping pile of mushroom tagliatelle, the dish was an ideal balance of heavy cream and full of porcinis with chopped parsley. Erykah Badu played from the PA. It was 72 degrees, and other diners smiled while enjoying the vibe." - Eater Staff

"Build-your-own-bowl situations usually end in disaster. You inevitably get overexcited with the toppings and end up with a giant serving of things that don’t go together. But while you do build your own pasta bowl at Pasta Sisters, it’s impossible to mess it up. Mostly because you only get to choose two things—pasta shape and sauce—and also because if they think you’re doing it wrong, they’ll tell you (ie, clam sauce goes with spaghetti). The Culver City location is much bigger than the Pico-Arlington original, and while it doesn’t quite have the charm of that one, it does have wine." - jess basser sanders, nikko duren, sylvio martins

"Pasta Sisters has noodle lovers covered, whether they’re in the mood to hop behind the stove or just simply reheat. Freshly made spaghetti, tagliatelle, pappardelle, and lasagna sheets are available for sale, along with composed plates of pasta with bottarga or porcini mushrooms." - Cathy Chaplin, Eater Staff

"Though they’re not running any holiday-specific specials, Pasta Sisters does have seasonal offerings. They’ve added handmade tortellini, truffle ravioli, and handmade panettone from Italy for the month of December. Order here." - brett keating