GAYOT.COM
A nondescript motel is hardly the place you’d expect to find an Italian restaurant as good as this one, but here it is. We appreciate the warm, homey atmosphere and the generous portions of superb, reasonably priced, rustic Italian cuisine. For starters, chose from the rolled eggplants with goat cheese, marinated tomatoes and pesto, a bracing salad of raw baby artichokes and hearts of palm, Italian crab cakes with rice or a crisp-crusted pizza. Move on to such hearty pastas as the rigatoni with chicken and sun-dried-tomato sausage. And by all means, order the tender garlic- and herb-kissed whole (yes, whole) grilled chicken.

LOS ANGELES TIMES
There are just a handful of tables under the big canvas umbrellas outside this diminutive spot annexed to the Beverly Terrace Hotel. But often when you can't score a reservation inside, you can get one outdoors. The lemony shaved artichoke, hearts of palm and Parmesan salad is among the town's best. And the hearty tomato soup with basil just may have curative powers.

L.A. MAGAZINE
A stomping ground for the rich, famous, and beautiful, where the dozen or so tables fill up quickly with diners hungry for hearty pastas, chicken parmigiana, and osso buco. Regulars start with the popular carciofi (artichoke) salad.

CITYSEARCH
The Scene: Inside the modest Beverly Terrace Motor Hotel, this diminutive dining room bustles with attentive servers and casual diners. Low ceilings make the space seem even smaller, but bundles of dried flowers and terra-cotta floors turn the otherwise cramped quarters into a cozy nook. The romantic patio is always packed on mild summer nights.
The Food: Fresh, unpretentious dishes draw folks looking for home-style Italian cooking and reasonable prices. For starters, the no-frills tomato soup sprinkled with chopped basil leaves bursts with refreshing flavor. Thin-crusted pizzas are big enough to share, amply topped with prosciutto, chicken or smoked salmon. A zesty tomato sauce cloaks rigatoni tubes and slices of light chicken sausage, a pasta standout. The hearty fish soup entree is a spicy tomato broth chock-full of shrimp and white fish chunks. And save room for a sinful homemade tart-the raspberry and chocolate versions are simply divine.

AOL LOCAL
Tucked away in a nondescript motel, the tiny new Trattoria Amici might easily be overlooked. But judging from the well-heeled crowd waiting to get in every night, it's no secret to those "in the know." They come for the warm, homey atmosphere established by restaurateur Tancredi DeLuca (name an Italian restaurant, Tancredi's been the host), and the generous portions of superb -- reasonably priced -- rustic Italian cuisine prepared by his chef-partner, Enrico Trova. Start with bundles of smoked salmon-wrapped shoestring potatoes, a bracingly lemony salad of raw baby artichokes and hearts of palm, or a crisp-crusted pizza. Move on to such hearty pastas as the rigatoni with chicken and sundried tomato sausage, or the tender garlic-kissed whole (yes, whole) grilled chicken.

BEVERLYHILLSPEOPLE.COM
Welcome to my first column for beverlyhillspeople.com. I’m all about friendship, and so is this first outing.
Last Saturday night, I had the pleasure of attending the engagement party of the beautiful Lucia Singer and her handsome Irish beau, Darrach Mc Carthy, thrown by Brentwood socialites Jann Berman and Mary Ann Weisberg in the stunning garden of the latter. Almost as visually beautiful were the waiters, so of course I had to know who was catering.
Turns out it was Amici, whose Brentwood branch I had reviewed on my show about a year ago. Friendship being the theme of this writing, I figured I’d be friendly and segue right over to Amici Beverly Hills, since it means friendship in Italian.
And, to that end, I scooped up two of my friends, the lovely actress and theater PR person, Patty Onagan, and the studly editor and content manager, Lou Coronado, and headed there this past Thursday night. (Straight from Jury Duty, I might add!)
Speaking of friendly, we couldn’t ask for better from the adorable and talented chef Enrico Trova.
He spent so much time with us that I don’t know how our food got made! He and Tancredi Deluca became friends in their younger days on the LA restaurant scene and opened Amici 12 years ago. And are still together through it all! I’m always impressed by long associations, since everyone’s so difficult nowadays. Or is that just me?!
Anyway, I digress.
Which I do regularly, so get used to it. (If you’re a regular Karen’s Restaurant Revue viewer, you’re already shocked that I’ve stuck to one topic this long!)
Though the garden area is very pretty, I try not to dine outside ever because of the possibility of smoke.
We were just as happy indoors, which was pretty enough, but could have totally benefited from blow-ups of my head shots on the white walls. Just a suggestion . . .
Here are the food highlights: for starters, they serve an incredible cannellini bean spread with the tomato mixture for the bread, on every table.
One can fill up on it, if not careful. We all loved the Grilled Hawaiian Prawns, which came with the eyeballs, etc., but after the presentation, you can ask for them to take the shrimp back in the kitchen and remove the “bodies.”
The grilled veal chop was gorgeous and popular with us, too, and Lou was very pleased with his salmon. I’m always antsy until I get to dessert, and enjoyed what they call their flourless chocolate cake, which was actually more like a mousse.
My guests were more into the torta della nonna, which you have to ask the waiter to explain. I hear Amici is very popular with the lunch crowd, so I hope to join them there very soon.