(UOVO)
Is there a more soothing food than freshly cooked pasta? Watching a steaming bowl of pasta headed your way after a long day may be one of life’s most endearing pleasures. And the best pasta dishes are the simple ones. Pasta in its various configurations with some cream or some butter or some olive oil, and that’s it. Perhaps a simple meat sauce, but simple is the key word.
You could add a lot to pasta, as you can with pizza, for example, but again with both, why disturb perfection?
Meanwhile, it is estimated that Americans devour about twenty pounds per person a year. That’s a lot of pasta.
Thus it’s easy to understand the line of a dozen or so people outside UOVO, Pasadena’s newest Italian eatery, and the latest location for the popular osteria.
One huge factor that has accounted for their quick success is the fact that inside UOVO’s Bologna, Italy Kitchen, Sfogline hand-makes fresh pasta daily using traditional, regional techniques and local ingredients. The pasta is then sent overnight via passenger plane to Los Angeles in a temperature-controlled cabin where the flight time becomes part of the needed resting time.
Italy is eight or nine hours ahead of California, depending on the time of year, which also helps keep the pasta fresh and on schedule.
The company makes its pasta using traditional, regional techniques and high-quality ingredients. As co-founder Carlo Massimini explained, “We literally don’t have the eggs and hands that they do. The pasta we serve at UOVO is just like the pasta I grew up with in Italy.”
There are three tasting menus offered, along with a wide range of single pasta dishes. The tasting menu for two is delivered in four courses including dessert.
The first tasting menu is the Classic, which features Yellowtail Crudo, Pomodorini e Basilico, Vongole, Pomodoro, and a Tiramisu al Cucchiaio dessert. The second is Cheese and Truffles, which consists of Yellowtail Crudo, Tagliatelle in Truffle Sauce, a Pomodoro, Cacio del Pepe, and Tiramisu. We opted for the third choice, the Regional, which is more meat-intensive.
It began with the Battuta di Carne, which is Wagyu beef tartare, with olive oil and lemon, both sweet and salty with a melt-in-the-mouth texture. Served with flecks of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, this pink beef could be sinfully addicting.
A simple Ragu followed, served with Bolognese pasta and the Wagyu beef with pork, and prepared without cheese, milk or cream. This is, for me, perhaps the essence of the pasta experience. More than once, while traveling alone through Spain and France, I sought it out in various bistros and cafes. (When I lived in Italy, I couldn’t afford it. That’s another story. )
But Ragu is every care you may have dissolved away in a dozen forkfuls.
Amatriciana was up next. This is another classic and basic pasta dish. Ours was served with tonnarelli pasta, similar to Spaghetti, with tomatoes imported from Basilica, a Pecorino Romano cheese, imported Italian pork, and red chili pepper. The familiar-looking dish resembles spaghetti at first glance, but it is so much more.
Next up was a Tortellini, meat-filled shells in a vegetable, chicken and beef broth, also soothing, filling and memorable.
The exquisite symphony was followed by the aforementioned Tiramisu, served with a rich dollop of dark chocolate on top and a ladyfinger sunk into the middle of the serving glass, unlike most Tiramisu, which features a ring of ladyfingers around the edge of the dish. Best of all, the Tiramisu delights you with a serious shot of espresso at the very bottom to “wake you up!,” our server gleefully explained.
UOVO Pasadena is nestled in the southern end of the courtyard at the Pasadena Commons, with both indoor and outdoor dining.
Featuring a reclaimed wood siding and a live edge oak bar top, the 18-seat pasta bar directly overlooks the outdoor patio through the front glass panels. Diners can watch the fresh pasta dropped into baskets which are then lowered into constantly boiling water, at regulated cooking times, to create the dreamy pasta that UOVO serves.
UOVO Pasadena is at 146 South Lake Avenue, Suite 103. Pasadena, CA. No reservations.
