A bad Roman It identifies itself as a maximalist restaurant.
Bad Roman is maximalist in its design. It will make its West Coast debut today (Tuesday, May 26) in Beverly Hills, with porcupines and gray statues waiting alongside green velvet banquettes.
Bad Roman is maximalist in its nature. Michael Stillman, CEO of Quality Branded Hospitality, remembers opening the first New York location in 2023 on the third floor of a shopping mall in Columbus Circle, after the pandemic closed.
“People wanted something fun and warm,” Stillman tells the Observer. “We were like, ‘You need to have some irreverent humor.’ It’s really us. It’s like, ‘Hey, stop taking yourself so seriously.’ It’s okay to have a good time and have fun and get out of the box a little bit.”
Most important of all, Bad Roman is maximalist in its food. Although there are other restaurants that i want to be as italian as possibleBad Roman is about purposeful extremes and trying new things. This is an Italian-American restaurant influenced by Rome, but also the red sauce you’ll find all over New York City and the best Cal-Italian food in Los Angeles Gjelina.
“There’s something great about having a handmade Sungold tomato chitarra but also having cups of pepperoni and ranch and then having a traditional bowl of handmade gnocchi and then red sauce,” Stillman said. “Is it too much? A little bit. But if you don’t try to finish it with each meal, I think it works and it’s a delicious meal. And it flows because it’s delicious and we’re not trying to be too serious.”
Chef/partner Craig Koketsu and Bad Roman Beverly Hills chef Clint Ives curate an all-you-can-eat menu that includes roasted garlic babka, filet mignon meatballs and la figliata. La figliata is like a giant ball of burrata, and Bad Roman has the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills deliver this cheese from Puglia every week. So make no mistake, Bad Roman is, in fact, very serious about the food it serves, while instilling a sense of humor and luxury throughout its menu.
There are starters like casino crispy calamari and eggplant pull-a-Parm, which is a riff on mozzarella sticks. All pasta at Bad Roman is made in-house, and there are baller dishes like oyster caviar gnocchi, black truffle cacio e pepe and spicy lobster campanelle. Despite all the quirks, the price is in line with high-end restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. No silly $200 pasta here. Pepperoni cups with ranch are $14, caviar gnocchi is $55, and you can get Dover sole for $75.
For dessert, there is a tiramisu ice cream cake. Or if you prefer a dessert-like dessert, there’s a vodka-infused affogato washed down with vanilla milk and espresso shaved ice.
Bad Roman is in the Beverly Hills space that formerly housed the Palm steakhouse, and Stillman was thinking more of old-school Los Angeles spots like the Palm, Dan Tana and Formosa Cafe.
“I thought about Dan Tana and how it’s kind of labyrinthine,” says Stillman, who doesn’t want to have outdoor dining at Bad Roman because he likes the moody supper club concept. “A lot of places in LA have this kind of cool, labyrinthine feel. That’s something I wanted to create here.”
And he’s done it his way with neon shields, a mini menagerie, curved door handles that look like snakes and trompe l’oeil things to look at while enjoying pepperoncini martinis, tequila granitas with habanero shaved ice or an aperitivo in a shot glass attached to a toy car, Ferrarini, Lamborari, Lamborari, Lamborari, Laymbori, the Lamborarini).
Stillman is a second-generation restaurant operator whose Quality Branded Hospitality empire includes New York’s Don Angie, San Sabino, Limusina and Quality Italian. Bad Roman is, in many ways, his most unusual restaurant. But ultimately, the ethos at Bad Roman is very Italian-American. It’s about taking something ordinary and making it your own and having a good time in the process.
“It’s not just the food itself, but there’s a certain attitude, a certain nonchalance, a certain swagger,” Stillman said. “That’s the Italian-American dining experience, for me at least.”
Bad Roman is located at 267 N.Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210, and will be open Tuesday-Saturday from 5pm to 11pm Lunch and weekend brunch hours are coming soon.
