Sunday, August 22, 2010

Pasta Pomodoro

Today I'm going to blog about a restaurant that I frequent quite often but never wrote about, Pasta Pomodoro. We have been going there since the nineties when chef Andriano Paganini opened the first one on Chestnut Street in San Francisco. At the time, he had an fine dining restaurant and opened a casual affordable place around the corner. This concept sounds so much like what all the upscale chefs are doing now but this occurred in 1994, talk about being in front of the curve! Today it is a mini chain and a darn good place to get a meal. We stopped by for lunch this week and as I read the menu I noticed their pledge. The line that caught my attention was "we believe that fresh ingredients sourced from leading, local purveyors, doesn't have to mean expensive dishes." Now that's language I can connect with! Great food, wine and friendly competent service at a reasonable price equals four stars in my frugal book.

So what's for lunch? They bring a big slice of freshly made focaccia and an herb dipping sauce to the table to assuage your appetite while you make menu decisions.
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April choose the healthy chicken pasta that came with a salad, her choice the Caesar ($8.95).
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My choice was ravioli di magro and insalata mista ($9.95). That translates as spinach and ricotta ravioli and mixed salad.
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We were at our local Novato branch but there are Pasta Pomodoro's throughout the Bay Area and beyond.



3 comments:

Zoomie said...

We have eaten there fairly often and always enjoy it. They have a dish of roasted brussels sprouts that is _killer_!

kudzu said...

I agree that it's an overlooked place for tasty food at reasonable prices. The one in Novato is my favorite. I was happy I could take a vegetarian guest along who ate well and was really pleased with her meal, when I tested the switch to the new menu in the spring.

Greg said...

Zoomie- I'll check out the sprouts.
Kudzu- Even though it is corporate now I feel like they strive to improve always. I tried sausage pizza on a visit after this post and was very pleased.