It was quite a night at the new Scarpetta restaurant 
at the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel. The big room roared with celebrities, movers, shakers and local working it and digging into Chef Scott Conant’s cuisine.
Conant, who owns three other namesake eateries, in NY, Miami and Toronto, and is about to open in Vegas, ushered in the Beverly Hills branch a week ago and already it’s the talk of the town.
At least for now. Or perhaps like myself much of the crowd were invited guests. Not sure.
But it was fun. Last time we ran into Willis was at Il Piccolini on Robertson Blvd., he appears to have a zest for food, but is quite slim and fit looking. It also looks like he likes premium wine, I noticed it was being decanted, which usually means expensive. Perhaps the management sent over a bottle.
Anyhow the food was good, save for a miss with my black cod. I didn’t send it back or say anything, but it was kind of slippery and chewy, which is surprising since it’s one of chef’s signature dishes.
The tuna Susci however was amazing 
$16
And so was the creamy polenta 
with truffle mushrooms $15
The signature spaghetti (all pasta is housemade) was good, but over rated, $24
Richard liked his branzino 
$26 and he really savored the chocolate cake–but I didn’t get a photo
We shared a bottle of Testarosa Chardonnay $60
Scarpetta means “little shoe” in Italian or as Chef told me, a splash of color but I can’t print out the splash of yellow logo he showed me.
Anyhow it has lots of promise, I will return. Scarpetta at the Montage Hotel, 223 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, 310-860-7970, www.info@scarpettarestaurants.com.
