Avner Levi

The Climb

Johnson & Wales University is part of Avner Levi’s formal training, before the kitchen hours began to define the rest of the path. At Bestia in Los Angeles, California, the pace of service and the demands of a professional line would have set the tempo. He later worked as chef at Mignon Wine Bar in Downtown Los Angeles, California until 2021, adding another stretch of practical experience before moving into ownership. Since 2021, Avner has been owner and chef of Cento Pasta Bar, a role that places cooking and decision-making inside the same daily practice. The job asks for more than execution: it ties the restaurant’s identity to Levi’s standard, with the work of making and the work of guiding happening in the same room.

Today

Handmade pasta is the center of Avner Levi’s work at Cento Pasta Bar in Los Angeles, where he serves as Executive Chef and owner. The craft depends on close control and repetition: reading the dough, shaping by hand, and knowing when simplicity is enough. In that register, restraint is not absence; it is the method. “I’m Persian, I’m Jewish, and really my culture is all about hospitality,” Levi says, linking the food to lineage rather than treating identity as decoration. At Cento, that shows up as a restaurant built around welcome as much as plate craft. The pasta may be the product, but the room is part of the brief. “I’m here to be as hospitable as I can,” Levi says, and the line reads as operating principle. Hospitality, in this framing, is not separate from the cooking or the service path around it. It is the reason the work exists, and the standard by which it is measured.

Signature

Avner's signature dishes include carbonara, Cento Assorted Pastas, Cento Beet Pasta, Cento Uni Pasta, and Cento Squid Ink and Shrimp Pasta. The range stays anchored in pasta work, with each dish extending the restaurant’s core through a different shape, filling, or finish.

In Their Words “I'm Persian, I'm Jewish, and really my culture is all about hospitality.” “I love to cook, but I also like to nourish people.”

Recognition

Levi is known for handmade pasta at Cento Pasta Bar, the Los Angeles restaurant where he is Executive Chef and owner. The recognition follows the shape of the work: training, line experience, and ownership all pointing toward a single practice centered on feeding people well and keeping the room open to them.