Ep. 020 | CENTO | West Adams

Avner Levi, a Bestia alum, started Cento as a pasta pop-up inside a downtown LA bar. Now he's got a permanent home in West Adams — and two very different restaurants to show for it.⁠⁠Cento Pasta Bar is the concept that put him on the map: a modern and sleek room built around handmade pasta and a chef's counter where you can watch every bowl come together. The food is Italian at its core, but Levi isn't precious about it — global influences creep in at the edges in ways that feel natural rather than forced. Remind us to always put chili crisp on carbonara going forward.⁠⁠\Cento Raw Bar, which opened in 2025, is right next door and is one of the most visually arresting dining rooms in the city, and it knows it. It masterfully transports diners into a fantasy seacave grotto, with bleached coral walls and whimsical pops of color. The raw bar deals in oysters, uni, seafood towers, and crudos with a few large format items like whole branzino and squid ink pasta rounding out the menu. ⁠ West Adams | Los Angeles | California Opened 2019 (pasta bar) Opened 2025 (raw bar) https://www.cento.group/ @centorawbar@centopastabar 🎧 Listen to the Podcast: Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZUVt7hAf8JvrA4NvHRd7Z?si=3f3b627900fb4583 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftertaste-la/id1840083535 Amazon → https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b94749de-3c4c-40a2-b549-f80ac2725a58/aftertaste-la RSS Feed → https://feeds.captivate.fm/aftertaste-la/ 📱 Connect with us here: Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/aftertastela Threads → https://www.threads.com/@aftertastela TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@aftertastela 🍴 About Aftertaste LA: Join Chef Vlad and Nicole on their journey through the Los Angeles dining scene. Each episode focuses on a different restaurant, analyzing strengths and weaknesses from service to flavor, to creativity, and everything else Nicole and Chef Vlad are the friends you trust to give a thorough review of the many restaurants of the diverse and vast Los Angeles dining landscape. They’ll break down the hits, the misses, and the avoid-at-all-costs so you can target your experiences to what fits you best. Whether you’re a local, just visiting, or dreaming of an LA vacation, they’re your source for tasty information about the restaurant experiences that make Los Angeles special. ⭐ Our Rating System (1–4 Tastebuds): 1️⃣ Tastebud = Skip it2️⃣ Tastebuds = If you’re in the neighborhood 3️⃣ Tastebuds = Worth a trek 4️⃣ Tastebuds = Can’t miss #AftertasteLA #LosAngelesFood #RestaurantReview #FoodPodcast