Rihanna's Favorite LA Restaurant And How Much It Costs To Eat There
Rihanna is a global music, fashion, and makeup superstar who's frequently been photographed leaving Giorgio Baldi, a popular Italian restaurant in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles neighborhood near Santa Monica. And if you couldn't guess from the number of times she's been seen there, the pop culture icon revealed that it's her favorite restaurant in LA.
Giorgio Baldi was founded over 30 years ago by a chef of the same name, who passed in 2011 but left the Italian restaurant to his daughter, Elena. She's not the only lasting sign of Baldi's influence, either. His son runs a different restaurant of his, and another mentee, Santos MacDonal, is the longtime executive chef of the remarkable coastal California restaurant Il Cortile Ristorante.
When Rihanna dines at Giorgio Baldi, she always orders the same meal, starting with an all-fried appetizer round: Calamari, langoustines, and shrimp. Next is a tomato basil spaghetti, and what she told Interview Magazine is a dish "that I kind of made up, which is milk and cheese ravioli with a Bolognese meat sauce. I call it half-and-half." Rihanna's order is hard to price out since much of it isn't actually on the menu, but you could expect a dinner for two regular customers to easily run over $100.
How much does it cost to eat at Giorgio Baldi?
If you're dining at Giorgio Baldi without one of the most famous people in the world at your table, you'll probably be limited to what's on the menu that night. But that also makes it easier to estimate the cost of a dinner for two, versus guessing what they might charge for a custom pasta plate, even from a regular customer.
A typical order at Giorgio Baldi could start with a split appetizer, for example, the Crostino al Prosciutto at $22. A simple Forte Forte salad of radicchio, arugula, shaved parmesan, and balsamic dressing runs $17, plus a Ravioli con Asparagi pasta course (pictured) for $23. When it comes to entrees, one prominent dish on the menu is the $50 Cotoletta alla Milanese, a pounded, breaded, and pan-fried veal chop. You might see it on other Italian menus as veal Milanese, which was one of Frank Sinatra's favorite foods.
Another celebrity favorite, though she also never dined at this restaurant, is Baldi's Scotta Dito — a $50 grilled lamb with mint, a combination that was one of Princess Diana's favorite dishes. This hypothetical meal for two would run $166 before taxes, surcharges, and tip. Pricey, but if Giorgio Baldi's three decades of success are any sign, it's worth it. You might even see Rihanna there.