This gift certificate is good towards an amazing meal at La Botte Ristorante in Santa Monica. 

It is difficult to imagine a warmer interior than in this homey yet fashionable place, which pays homage to Italian wine with its hardwood floors and walls crafted from the staves of oak wine barrels (a node to the name, Italian for “wine barrel”).  Start with a skilled and menu-savvy Italian speaking staff able to debone a branzino tableside, and well-timed kitchen whose homemade pasta proves delectable.  Bold flavors and delicious sauces sparkle in such refined Northern Italian recipes as house-made wild-boar sausage; pappardelle with braised-duck ragu’; and creamy white-corn soup stocked with buttery lobster meat. To gild the lily, the chef may even step out the kitchen to sprinkle truffle dust over your plate of pasta.  The purview of co-owner Stefano De Lorenzo, the wine cellar reflects a list that is molto serious.