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Well, the roads have finally cleared off, so we got out of the house for a bit. We shopped in Beaverton, where I scored the newest Spenser novel, an '09 calendar, an my brother's birthday gift. It was just nice to be out & about though.
We ended our day by having dinner at a place called Pastini Pastaria. I gotta say, I wasn't impressed with the service. It was hardly busy, but it took the guy 15 - 20 minutes to take our dinner order, and he couldn't get my drink order right. Is Diet Coke with lemon and NO ice really that complex a set of variables?
I had the SPAGHETTI CARBONARA $9.75 (Classic, creamy Parmesan sauce with pancetta, green peas and cracked black pepper). I will give them credit for cheerfully substituting fusilli for spaghetti when I asked. Some places don't make substitutions, but it wasn't a problem here. However, while the sauce was tasty there wasn't much of it. There literally wasn't enough sauce to even wet my bread.
Mom had the 3 salad sampler $9.75 with:
TUNA & WHITE BEAN SALAD (Albacore tuna and white beans with celery, capers, red onion, parsley, red bell pepper, rosemary, a touch of olive oil and lemon, served on fresh mixed greens, dressed with balsamic-red wine vinaigrette)
PANZANELLA BREAD SALAD (Traditional bread salad with arugula, tomatoes, cucumber balsamic, red onion, yellow & red bell peppers, capers, parsley and sherry vinaigrette)
ARTICHOKE-CHICKEN SALAD (Diced chicken breast and artichoke hearts tossed with feta cheese, roasted red peppers and olives, on a bed of fresh mixed greens with roasted tomato vinaigrette)
She got very generous portions of all 3 salads. The first two were very flavorful, the bread salad having a nice spicy kick to it. Yet, the artichoke-chicken salad had barely any artichoke and was simply bland.
Both meals came with the Pearl Bakery's Ciabatta bread. The bread was great, but there should have been dipping oil or something for on it. I tried to use it to sop my sauce, but like I said, I wasn't given enough sauce to sop.
Over all, I'd give Pastini Pastaria a B-/C+.
I am not a professional chef, nor have I been classically trained in the field of cuisine. I AM, however, a writer and a well read food & wine enthusiast, who lives to eat and knows what he likes. In this blog, you'll read my views on cheese, wine, restaurants, cooking, food trends, and more.
