Peperonata Pasta

Another small business tanked. Pity.

3/9/2004:Quick update: The funghi sauce is outstanding. So is the pesto (made with walnuts rather than pine nuts, and Adrian is clearly proud of it). If in search of a quick nosh, try an empanada if they’re available; they’re the real deal.

[review from 2/6/04] Now that I’ve eaten in the place once, and had carryout once, I feel confident in saying that the pasta itself is pretty good, thou maybe not quite as good as what you’d get at a first class Italian restaurant. I’m not as impressed with the sauces, and of course as Peperonata Pasta is really a store and not a restaurant, it has little ambience. Good for a quick nosh if you’re in the neighborhood. Better for taking the noodles home and cooking them yourself.

[original review dated 1/23/04 follows] Newsflash! The mom and pop business has not yet been squelched by industrial food!

Peperonata Pasta is a restaurant in the same way River Falls Seafood is: just barely. Actually it is a little storefront that sells homemade pasta, but it also has a small hot lunch menu and five tables in front, so it qualifies.

I’m quite taken with it, but please note: the numeric rating is provisional because I haven’t eaten on site yet. However I noticed a good sign: the sign for cannoli that said something to the effect that they’re filled when you order them. Props. And they’re good.

The place is owned and operated by a charming Argentinian immigrant couple of Italian descent. When I ordered a pound of pappardelle, he weighed it on butcher paper, then tied it up with a red ribbon and tucked in a sheet on how to cook fresh pasta. He had about a dozen types that day, and also ravioli with several fillings (four cheese, spinach and ricotta, butternut squash, etc.) With advance notice he’ll also make big sheets of pasta for lasagna, or prepare to the point of baking lasagna, ziti, manicotti, and I forget what else. He was quite talkative.

He was also very proud of the fact that the gnocchi are potato gnocchi, not semolina. I’m definitely going back there for lunch. Soon. It it will become a regular stop on grocery days, too.

Yesterday he told me “today we’ve been here one year three days. They say if your business survives one year, you’ll survive.” I sure hope so. I wish both of them the best of luck.

It was a windy day and I wanted something warm. The four cheese ravioli with the marinara sauce hit the spot. The pasta had a pleasantly toothsome feel, though it wasn’t quite as light as I like. The marinara sauce was a bit more watery than I expected. As one who does not like like large chunks of tomato, I appreciated the fact that there were no large chunks of tomato in the sauce.

The ambience is that of sitting in the front of a store, because, well, you’re sitting in the front of a store. They have their four outside tables crammed inside as it was a bit blustery for sidewalk dining. This made an already small space seem even smaller. When there’s only one other party dining, you get to hear their conversation, whether you want to or not.

I will be back, to try other sauces and pastas. As well as the pizza, desserts, and empanadas.

I’m giving them a 6 as a place to eat...the pasta itself I’d rate an 8, if food-plan were the sort of place where we reviewed supplies. Located on Main Street behind the main shopping drag in Kentlands, you take the alley between Michael’s Crafts and Fresh Fields (grrrr, I mean whole foods) and turn right. Marina and Adrian Fochi are charming and ever-present behind the counter of their little pasta shop and cafe’, where 8 or 9 basic pasta shapes are always available, joined by a number of Argentinian desserts and empanadas on Fridays and Saturdays. In addition, you must consider the ravioli list; a half-dozen or so fillings are offered. Their varieties are usually made with a straight semolina and egg pasta, but you’ll also find one or two variations with sun-dried tomato, spinach and such. I haven’t seen them do squid-ink pasta yet, nor paglia e fieno.

The menu works quite simply; you choose a pasta, and you choose from their list of sauces, and Marina cooks them up on the spot. Or you could have a pizza or calzone. Lasagna and pastichio (pastitsio) are theoretically available if you make arrangements in advance, but don’t normally fit into their eat-in plan. There are few accompaniments offered, but you’re here for the fresh pasta after all.

I’m one of those people who thinks that dried pasta has a more concentrated flavor appropriate for some dishes, while others (especially tagliatelle) are better fresh. It’s hard to argue with fresh tagliatelle al dente soaking in “Nonna sauce”, a cream sauce with bacon and peas that has been a staple of Marina’s family for centuries. The other sauces are good, but not necessarily standouts. If you’ve already got a sauce that you really like, don’t forget to take some fresh pasta home with you!