Meet the ‘Peasant Pasta’ That Became Osteria La Buca’s Most Beloved Dish
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“I’m always worried when Italian friends come to try the carbonara,” says Osteria La Buca co-owner Stephen Sakulsky. “Our version goes against the grain.”
Rather than whisking the egg into the sauce, as the Romans do, the version at the 20-year-old Melrose staple (with another location in Sherman Oaks) is topped with a photo-worthy poached egg that oozes its golden yolk when pierced with a fork. “It’s fun,” Sakulsky adds. “You break the yolk and spread it around — it’s a make-your-own-adventure dish.”
The eye-catching pasta has been one of the restaurant’s top sellers since it was added to the menu in 2014. While Italians may scoff at the presentation, Sakulsky believes it’s a big part of the appeal. When the carbonara was first introduced, “peasant pastas” were rare in restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. “It was not a popular dish,” Sakulsky says. “With carbonara and cacio e pepe, it was like, why would I make that in a restaurant? That’s not fancy.”
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But Sakulsky had a hunch the dish would do well, though it took more than a month’s worth of research and development for the kitchen team to rebuild the classic Roman dish from the ground up. “It took a lot of renditions to get all the ratios right,” says Sakulsky.
Instead of traditional guanciale, the team opted for milder pancetta. In place of dried pasta, which is customary in Italy, they decided to use house-extruded bucatini. “We prefer the chew,” says Sakulsky. “But that’s kind of just what we do: we’ve been making pasta every day since we opened in 2005.”
That fresh pasta is coated in a rich sauce of starchy pasta water combined with a little bit of cream, a necessity for mimicking the classic dish’s luxurious texture without the traditional egg-infused sauce. “I’m not sure I should’ve said that,” Sakulsky says about the cream, then laughs. “We go against all the norms.” The unconventional mix is topped with a generous crack of fresh black pepper, the poached egg, and a hefty sprinkle of Parmesan across the top.
The result? A one-of-a-kind carbonara that keeps guests coming back. “That ‘wow’ moment of breaking the yolk and spreading it around, people have the same exact reaction today as they did back in 2014,” says Sakulsky. “Our social media team just reposted a guest’s reel of someone cracking the yolk today.”
Another reason it’s remained popular in perpetuity? A larger-than-average portion size (about six ounces of pasta, versus restaurant-standard four). With the recent hardships facing the industry as a whole (inflation, the Hollywood strikes, tariffs, etc.), Sakulsky recently considered scaling down portion size to help with food costs. But after the devastating wildfires earlier this year, he nixed any plans to downsize, in the interest of providing value to longtime guests.
“When people are scared and trying to save money, we’re not going to raise prices or shrink portions,” he says. “We’re doubling down on hospitality, whether someone orders a carbonara or a steak and a $100 bottle of wine. Both of our locations have grown since last year and I think that’s a testament to who we are.”
