Chef Evan Funke is a consummate storyteller: retelling familial tales embedded in the old world, those of ar tisanal pasta and the Italian kitchen. In his kitchens in the City of Angels, far f rom the genesis, an Amer ican chef is folding the symbols of time and shades of regional Italy into his love of cooking. The spokesman for times past is exper tly balancing technique with nostalgia while upending preconceived notions of Italian food culture in Los Angeles. 

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The chef’s newly opened Funke in Beverly Hills, an ode to Sicily with a pasta-making lab, has already welcomed David Geffen, Kris Jenner and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Auteurs forever chase final cut and a blank check. L.A. chef Evan Funke, the acclaimed phenomenon behind two of the toughest reservations in town, Felix and Mother Wolf, has attained both with his latest restaurant in Beverly Hills, the eponymous Funke, which opened May 5. “I told Evan, ‘This is your Spago,'” says Kurt Rappaport, Funke’s new business partner and sole backer.

No expense was spared or detail overlooked when chef Evan Funke and real estate mogul Kurt Rappaport dreamed up Funke. Following three years of ideation and extensive construction, the results are impressive.

Funke is a new Beverly Hills restaurant that’s about time-honored recipes. Chef Evan Funke is here to showcase old-school pasta shapes and cooking techniques that he learned in Italy.

But the over-the-top space itself makes a different kind of statement. Funke doesn’t look or feel like other restaurants.

Funke takes up 10,000 square feet of interior space in a building that real estate powerhouse Kurt Rappaport purchased for $40 million. (The building spans 23,000 square feet and also includes Rappaport’s family office, museum and Westside Estate Agency brokerage as well as a jewelry store, hair salon and cafe.)

This spring, chef Evan Funke, of LA’s beloved Mother Wolf and Felix Trattoria, is launching Funke, a new restaurant in Beverly Hills. Here, he shares some inspirations.

Fresh off a trip to Sicily, chef Evan Funke shares his easy recipe for a lemony linguine dish that serves four people.

Funke tells Eater, “This restaurant is a culmination of my time spent in Italy over the last 15 years. Kurt and I have come together on an extraordinary project and we can’t wait to share it with Los Angeles.”

Cacio e pepe is traditionally made with just four ingredients: Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, pasta and pasta water. It’s named for two of them. Translated from Italian, cacio e pepe means cheese and black pepper.

The allure of a dish made with so few ingredients is indeed rooted in its simplicity, in its intensity of flavors and textures. When made just right, the cheese melts into the reserved pasta water and clings to the pasta, creating a creamy sauce.