Enter The 'Pasta Laboratorio' At Evan Funke's New Beverly Hills Restaurant

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Get ready to be taken to another place, thanks to chef Evan Funke's pasta laboratorio — a centerpiece of his latest restaurant, Funke, which opened at Santa Monica Boulevard and Canon Drive over the weekend.

“This theatrical environment of pasta-making provides the guests with this transportive experience,” Funke told Eater LA. “I don’t think it’s good enough to just have good food or a good wine list or a nice ambience. Guests are looking to be transported to another place, and storytelling is the biggest component of that for me.”

The three-story, 180-seat restaurant is Funke's third — he's behind Los Angeles hotspots Felix in Venice and Mother Wolf in Hollywood, and previously worked at Spago.

The menu includes some classic Italian dishes that Funke is known for — tagliatelle Bolognese, cacio e pepe and all’amatriciana — as well as new ones, including a whole forno, or oven-baked, section of the menu. Among those dishes is cipollina, a savory puff pastry stuffed with onions, provolone and tomato, according to Eater.