Pastaria in Clayton 11-20-21

 I saw this on an Andrew Zimmern show on the Food Channel.  It said if you wanted old school Italian, go to The Hill.  If you wanted new and edgy Italian, try Pastaria.  I guess Mike and I aren't new and edgy.  We much prefer "old school."

This is a casual restaurant.  Most people were in jeans.  That is OK and appropriate as it is also a pizza place.  We had read good things about the pasta, so we decided to forego the pizza.  

We each started with a cocktail.  It was fine, but not especially good.  It was also overpriced...we noticed later when we got the bill.

Most people comment about how your NEED to try the risotto balls.  It was even on the TV show.  So, we tried them.  They were tasty.  I liked the marinara sauce that came with them, but neither Mike nor I liked the aioli.  It was very bland and just tasted of oil and parsley.  The weird thing about them is that I expected them to be like arancini (the rice balls of Italy).  They look like that from the outside.  I also expected to taste pieces of rice inside, as risotto is made of rice.  I really don't know how they make these balls as the inside is the consistency of mashed potatoes.  I do think it has a little cheese in it and maybe some mashed rice, but they weren't like arancini and they were just OK.

They also hand out complimentary bread with oil and cheese.  The bread was too heavy for my taste.  It comes in a big lump of a piece.  It was warm...which is nice but just too much.

Mike got the tagliatelle Bolognese.   A Bolognese is typically made with beef, but this had an odd bacon/ham smell to it.  It wasn't bad, just odd.  

I chose the bucatini Ali' Amatriciana.  I knew it would be a bit spicy, as chili is listed as one of the ingredients.  It also lists "guanciale."  I had to look this up.  It is pork cheeks.  So, I knew there would be a bit of a port/ham taste to it.  It was fine but nothing I need to have again.

The homemade pasta was good and it was all cooked perfectly.  It was just a little to different for us.  I don't need pork cheeks in my pasta.  

After dinner I had some raspberry gelato and Mike tried their tiramisu.  He gave me a taste.  It was really quite good.  

We did discover something weird.  We ordered a bottle of wine that was a kind we had never heard of before.  It was a Primitivo from Puglia, Italy.  We know Puglia, Italy.  We liked the wine and it wasn't too expensive.  

It was a nice little wine.  It would be fine to drink with or without food.  We are used to liking big, bold wines like California Cabernets.  This was light and fruity.  The weird thing that I found out today when I looked this wine up is that "Primitivo" is just an Italian name for Zinfandel.  I think that is crazy.  Mike and I always thought we didn't like Zinfandel.  It was too boring and one sided.  We were too snobby to consider it.  That was dumb of us.  So, now, we are Cabernet AND Zinfandel drinkers!!

All in all...Pastaria was just not our "cup of tea"...even though we enjoyed the "glass of wine."