We stopped into Jon & Vinny’s in Brentwood recently, which is basically California-Italian with great lighting and better PR. Created by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, this place has mastered the art of making you feel both very cool and slightly underdressed at the same time.

Let’s start with the wine, because priorities. The program—courtesy of Helen Johannesen—is filled with small producers and bottles you pretend you’ve heard of before. We grabbed an Austrian orange wine (Kolfolk, Intra!) because we’re those people now. It paired beautifully with cheese and made us feel deeply sophisticated, like we might casually use the phrase “textural tannins.”

Now, breakfast.
The Hass avocado toast is exactly what you want it to be: grilled ciabatta, olive oil, lemon, and crushed red chili (which we bravely omitted because we enjoy feeling our lips). We added parmesan because restraint is not part of our personality. The BLT with fried egg? Bacon, arugula, tomato, aioli, grilled ciabatta. It’s the kind of sandwich that requires both hands and a nap afterward.

Lunch and dinner are where things get aggressively delicious.

The garlic bread is unapologetically buttery and loaded with enough garlic to ward off vampires and most social interactions. It’s very on-brand and we fully support it. The burrata with grilled ciabatta, sea salt, and olive oil is simple, which is chef code for “if this isn’t perfect, you’ll know.” Luckily, it is.

The fried zucchini arrives crispy and golden, served with ranch dressing that feels slightly rebellious in an Italian restaurant—but we’re not complaining.

Pizza? We are loyal to Sonny’s Favorite: Nueske’s bacon, mozzarella, tomato, onion, parmesan. It’s salty, smoky, and exactly what you order when you don’t want to think too hard but still want to feel like you made an excellent life decision.

The Chicken Cutlet Capri with lemon, arugula, and heirloom tomatoes is bright and fresh—like someone jogs before ordering it. The wood-grilled chicken is clean, simple, and satisfying in that “I made a responsible choice but still won” way.

And then there’s dessert. The Straus Family Creamery soft-serve twist—chocolate and vanilla—is dangerously good. It’s creamy, nostalgic, and somehow tastes better than any soft-serve has a right to. It’s the kind of dessert you order “to share” and then immediately begin defending with your fork. Resistance is futile.

We’ve been for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and takeout. It’s consistent. It’s buzzy. It’s California-Italian comfort dressed in minimalist chic.

Is it trendy? Yes.
Is it crowded? Also yes.
Will we keep going back? Absolutely.

Because when a restaurant gives you great wine, aggressive garlic bread, and soft-serve that makes you question every other dessert choice you’ve ever made, you don’t overthink it. You book the reservation and pretend you discovered it first.