Dropping by il Pastaio

Sandi and I had an appointment in Beverly Hills at 11:30 this morning. We were done with our business at 2:00 p.m. We were naturally hungry so we went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the vicinity; Il Pastaio at 400 N. Canon in Beverly Hills.  We had no reservations and the restaurant was packed. A short prayer was quickly answered and as long as we didn't want to sit outside, which we didn't, they were able to squeeze us in a small table which was quite tight. We didn't care at this point as we were there for the food. They gave us a basket of bread to start.

Sandi and I looked at each other because we sort of agreed we would not eat bread at restaurants since we just graduated from our cabbage soup diet. The bread stared at us as we gave it the "look of love". They say: "Love conquers all", so we thought we would have just 1 slice each. It was crusty, chewy, soft and dipped in the olive oil with balsamic vinegar and a bit of Parmesan, it was very good.

The word "diet" is not in our vocabulary when it comes to this restaurant. We went there for one dish we always have to have since nobody makes it better than they do. That is the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. It is the simplest of spaghetti and I have had this in various restaurants; even had it at Osteria Mozza which does not even come close to this one. Il Pastaio is as good as the ones from Italy. The pasta is aldente with fresh black pepper sauce and Pecorino Siciliano.

The other pasta we ordered to split between the 2 of us was the Pappardelle; green fettuccini pasta in a venison ragu and porcini mushroom ragu. This was also cooked aldente and had a lot of flavor. We enjoyed that as well.

It was almost 3:30 p.m. and we figured we won't be having dinner since this was a big lunch. We were proud of ourselves not to even look at the dessert menu though I knew they have a killer Tiramisu! I still had a bit of wine left so I was tempted to have another piece of bread. Sandi, being such a good friend, offered to share the burden and eat half of my slice. That's what friends are for.

I think it would be nice to go back to Il Pastaio with Piero, Sandi and our Italian teacher, Sara so we can practice ordering in Italian. We will have to go when they are not too busy and that is when they first open at 11:30 or at 5:00 before everyone arrives for dinner. Va bene???  Va bene!!!!