Paisano Pouch

A new visit and a re-visit to a couple newish Eyetalian joints..

Villagio.
So, stopped by finally to see what this joint was all about... Heard decent things about the grub. They have some chef's prix fixe menu nightly after a certain time for like $15. I was interested in a few other dishes on the regular menu but I wasn't super hungry and wanted a light snack. I was tempted to get the "personal 12"" which is their normal size Margherita pizza but I had a feeling that would be a major fail and ammo for a massive ass ripping. So, it was back to the prix fixe for $15, how big could these portions be? Well, the server said they were full portions. Sold, bitch.

 

Caesar. It's a standard issue Caesar with a nicely made dressing but the crouton made me laugh. Am I suppose to put a little of the salad on the slice of crouton and eat it bruschetta style?

Minestrone. I ordered another Caesar initially because of my girlish figure but then changed my mind like an entitled daddy's little princess skank whore that I am after the server put in the order. Yeah, because I can do that. But I'm sure glad I did... This was pretty good, just needed more flavor in the broth. It was nice to see that they included pasta (bowties) which many places don't give you that added value whether it's pasta or rice in this dish.

Butternut Squash Ravioli. Nice looking dish full of color and hominess. The raviolis were tasty but something said to me they weren't made in house, they were bought from an outside source. While they were plenty of ravs in bowl, there were also plenty of oil and butter.. Like a full cup of it at the bottom. I had to stick the little bread plate underneath one side of the bowl so all the oil could drain off the ravs. Even the server said it was overkill and he came back to the table and said, the chef prepares it that way which is the correct way. Come again? No, it's not the proper way for ravioli to be drowning in a fatty butter oil soup concoction. Just don't fucking do it because not everyone is a bobblehead who will nod at everything they're told.

Lasagna. This picture doesn't do it justice to the enormity of this exhibit live in person. It was the size of a cinder block. It was a decent tasting specimen but the meat was a bit pasty, the texture was too smooth like in a pate. It also had way too much cheese on top, masked the overall taste. It didn't have that ancient Italian grandma recipe taste to it but I did enjoy it, for the most part. I think the problem was that it was made a few hours back and had been sitting around for awhile.

Some coffee gelato scoop thinger. It had small bits of ice chunks inside... You know what that means. I ate it anyways.


Don Antonio's by Starita.
So, I made a quick drive-by to see how they were doing since my first visit... A couple of hits and misses on this redux but it's showing some promise.

Montanarine Genovese. It's almost like a street fair doughnut but with onion, pancetta and pecorino romano. Cute but it's so similar to all their other fried dough puff thingers.

Montanara. Lightly fried dough with smokey buffalo mozzarella which was pretty smokey but the "Signature Starita tomato sauce" was still too tart and acidic. The dough has improved, though. I did like the lightly fried dough, it wasn't greasy or fatty which will prolly disappoint the pouch. I'll make it up to him later with a visit to Popeyes.

Margherita. They got the whole Basil leaves in the center of the pie correct but I still don't like how they cook it with them on. The pie has gotten better but the sauce still needs work. Overall, it was steps up from my first visit but still far from great.

I'm still waiting for Varuni to open because I have a feeling they will crush the competition with Luca's talent. I haven't been to Antico for over 2 years because of the unbearable wannabes there and I don't miss it a bit because there's Sapori di Napoli and even Ammazza will do but Don Antonio has the look but the feel just ain't there yet.