Basta Pasta

In case you were wondering… some restaurants do not open until 6pm on a Saturday night. What happened to me that I 1) went to dinner that early on a Saturday and 2) didn’t care? I love Basta Pasta. It is a great neighborhood spot… that really isn’t in a neighborhood in particular since its on 17th between 5th and 6th; pretty random area. A group of super friendly Japanese guys runs it and they have a knack for making updated Italian food.

We started out with the Insalata di Cesare - Basta Pasta’s original romaine lettuce Caesar salad. Wow… fancy. Just kidding. It was just a way for us to get an appetizer with greens. I enjoy a good starter salad.

One of my biggest food pet peeves is a crab cake without any crab. You know what I’m talking about; the crab dishes that come with mostly breading and something crunchy but not enough pieces of crabmeat. Luckily for them (cause I’m kind of a big deal), Basta Pasta’s crab dish had plenty of meat to go around (plus, not fried!) I could have done without the grapefruit jelly. However, that is only because I can’t stand grapefruit. I think the citrus and the consistency of the jelly is probably a good combination with the crab… maybe orange jelly? Just a thought… the apple and daikon were a nice side. I love green apples and daikon, although seemingly tasteless, does add a bit of a crunch to the dish. BTW – if you are thinking of ordering: Tortino di Granchio – Crab Meat, avocado, Green Apples, Yukon Gold Potatoes and basil aioli with grapefruit jelly, daikon radishes & chayote

Another patron tipped us off to the specialty of the house was the pasta in a cheese wheel. What is that exactly? See here (to the left). They bring out a huge block of parmesan, melt a bowl shaped area, put the pasta in and toss it around. It was definitely the biggest piece of cheese I ever cut… I mean saw… On the menu its called Spaghetti con Prosciutto d Parmigiano, which is spaghetti with parmigiano reggiano & parma prosciutto. I actually thought it was going to be a little too cheesy and greasy, but it was not at all. It tasted as if the pasta was cooked lightly in butter and then fresh partially melted cheese pieces were tossed throughout. The prosciutto was a nice salty addition to this savory dish.

My date got the Orecchiette al Pollo Organico as his main. Kind of a change from the usual for him, as the meat he orders tends to be closer to the gamey type and farther from the ordinary. The dish is Orecchiette pasta with free-range chicken ragu, fresh tomatoes and sliced prosciutto. The chicken ragu was a step up from what I could make at home (I’m assuming here since its pretty obvious that I don’t cook from all my posts).

The pasta here is just good. Not as good as Babbo (which will be talked about in a future post) but, for a random neighborhood spot, it just can’t be beat.