Pasquale
Rua Amália De Noronha, 167 - Pinheiros
http://pasqualecantina.com.br/
I am on a quest to try as many of what Comer e Beber claims are "the best" restaurants in SP. After a long break from eating out (actually, eating at all, but that's another story), some friends and I headed to Pinheiros to Pasquale, which was voted the best "Italian Cantina" in SP.
Being gringoes, I love the fact that I rarely need to make a reservation because I tend to go out to eat on the early side for Paulistas! We got there about 8 pm...many open tables. By the time we left at 10 pm, there were about 40-50 people waiting for a spot. Talk about good timing.
There are lots of good things about Pasquale. The best, though, is the antepasto bar. You are able to order just what you want of everything. Highlights of the things we tried:
Berinjela Barese - sliced eggplant with tomato sauce, capers and anchovies
Involtine Pimentão - Grilled red peppers wrapped around anchovies
Caponata - absolutely divine eggplant spread
Alcachofra - Corações de alcachofrinha em azeite - Artichoke hearts in delicious olive oil
We also tried some sausage slices, which were just the right amount of spicy. So good. The antepastos are accompanied by baskets of fresh bread.
You can choose your pasta (spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, or orichetti), and your sauce. Between the four of us, we tried the pesto, the carbonara, and the putanesca. the pasta itself was outstanding...just tastes so fresh. The carbonara, however, was the best of the three sauces...complex flavors that just worked together.
For dessert, we had the chocolate cake with apricot ice cream. Perfect. We also had the fresh pineapple...nothing special, but was actually very refreshing and a nice compliment to the richness of the chocolate cake.
Pasquale is not "cool" or "hip" or "happening". But it is simple, delicious, and relaxed. A great place to go when you want to sit for a while and have a nice fresh bowl of pasta.
Showing posts with label italian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label italian. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Forneria Sao Paulo (Itaim Bibi)
Forneria Sao Paulo
Rua Amauri, 319
No website
I had been told that this place was kind of fancy for a pizza place, and Abby and I were freaking out just a little that our shoes wouldn't be up to par for an upscale SP crowd on a Saturday night. Not to worry, though...even though this hip and BUSY restaurant definitely attracted a trendy, young crowd, you can come as you are. Apparently, you can also bring your young children at 11 at night, too. And if you're 16 and your driver is with you, it's okay to hang out there late on a Saturday with a bunch of your high school friends.
Oh, and I don't think it's a pizza place.
I can't find a website, so you'll just have to go and check out the menu yourself. Not being a fluent Portuguese speaker (or reader, for that matter) I was looking for the PIZZA. But it seemed that there were just SANDWICHES. They are sort of like calzones, and there's 3 or 4 different kind of encasings for your 30 or so choices of "toppings". Being at the table with two vegetarians, we all opted to share two salads and one pizza-sandwich. The special salmon (grilled) salad was light and perfect. The pizza-sandwich split perfectly into 6 equal (if not small) pieces, but I really was missing a vat of marinara dipping sauce. Why can't this city get it straight that marinara sauce is delicious and should be put on everything Italian??! Especially something resembling a calzone. I am still on the search for a good red sauce to stain the front of my shirt as I slurp up spaghetti.
The prices were a little high, but the place is cool. Very modern...you feel hip just sitting there, like you are in on some cool little secret. It's a great energy, a wonderful buzz, and I am sure the place is packed until 2 am...we left just before midnight and there was a line out the door. (I also like that there's a Starbucks right across the street.)
Great dessert menu, too. We split a white chocolate mousse cake, which was served with fresh, warm chocolate sauce drizzled all over the top. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself (and then some) if there's hadn't been other people at the table digging in.
Rua Amauri, 319
No website
I had been told that this place was kind of fancy for a pizza place, and Abby and I were freaking out just a little that our shoes wouldn't be up to par for an upscale SP crowd on a Saturday night. Not to worry, though...even though this hip and BUSY restaurant definitely attracted a trendy, young crowd, you can come as you are. Apparently, you can also bring your young children at 11 at night, too. And if you're 16 and your driver is with you, it's okay to hang out there late on a Saturday with a bunch of your high school friends.
Oh, and I don't think it's a pizza place.
I can't find a website, so you'll just have to go and check out the menu yourself. Not being a fluent Portuguese speaker (or reader, for that matter) I was looking for the PIZZA. But it seemed that there were just SANDWICHES. They are sort of like calzones, and there's 3 or 4 different kind of encasings for your 30 or so choices of "toppings". Being at the table with two vegetarians, we all opted to share two salads and one pizza-sandwich. The special salmon (grilled) salad was light and perfect. The pizza-sandwich split perfectly into 6 equal (if not small) pieces, but I really was missing a vat of marinara dipping sauce. Why can't this city get it straight that marinara sauce is delicious and should be put on everything Italian??! Especially something resembling a calzone. I am still on the search for a good red sauce to stain the front of my shirt as I slurp up spaghetti.
The prices were a little high, but the place is cool. Very modern...you feel hip just sitting there, like you are in on some cool little secret. It's a great energy, a wonderful buzz, and I am sure the place is packed until 2 am...we left just before midnight and there was a line out the door. (I also like that there's a Starbucks right across the street.)
Great dessert menu, too. We split a white chocolate mousse cake, which was served with fresh, warm chocolate sauce drizzled all over the top. I could have eaten the whole thing by myself (and then some) if there's hadn't been other people at the table digging in.
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