October 17th is National Pasta Day and a perfect excuse to carb load on some of the most delicious pasta dishes around San Diego! Here are a few of our top picks:
TRUST Restaurant, located in the vibrant neighborhood of Hillcrest, is known for their locally sourced and rustic menu. One of my favorite things on the TRUST menu is the Braised Oxtail Raviolini ($22) served with pine nuts, carrots, oxtail jus, horseradish, and whipped ricotta.
Vegans rejoice at the Westgate Room inside The Westgate Hotel as Chef Fabrice Hardel offers a Vegan Butternut Squash Ravioli ($23). A fall favorite, this dish is served with portobello mushrooms and a cashew coconut milk sauce.
A Little Italy staple, Bencotto dishes out over 1,000 pounds of fresh pasta per week! Whether you create your own or try one of their house specials, there is no shortage of options. Try their Lasagna al Tartufo & Funghi ($21) with besciamella, white truffle cream, and shiitake mushrooms.
With 25 different kinds of daily handcrafted pasta available, you will likely be in pasta heaven at Monello. If that’s not enough to entice you, they offer the only tableside cheese wheel in San Diego. Changing weekly, their pasta special for National Pasta Day is set to be a Swordfish Carbonara with black squid ink spaghetti in a creamy saffron sauce.
Primavera Ristorante, located at 932 Orange Ave. in Coronado, will celebrate National Pasta Day with an Italian twist on an American classic – orecchiette mac and cheese – available exclusively on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Created by Executive Chef Alfredo Canedo, the orecchiette mac and cheese, priced at $24.95, is made with chicken apple sausage, heirloom cherry tomato, pancetta, peas, smoked Gouda, Grana Padano and topped with brioche crumbs.
On National Pasta Day (October 17) and World Pasta Day (October 25), six-month-old Hillcrest hotspot Maestoso will gift every dine-in guest who orders a pasta dish from the menu with a complimentary portion of raw fresh pasta made in-house by Chef Marco Maestoso that guests can take home to cook (limit one per person). Additionally, during the eight-day stretch from Oct. 17 to Oct. 25 guests should keep an eye out for an extra helping of pop-up pasta specials such as Chef Marco’s Golden Lasagna made with saffron, EVOO pearls, Italian “vache rosse” (red cow) 40-month aged parmesan, golden heirloom tomatoes and yellow cherry tomato sauce.
Carb up for National Pasta Day at The Wine Pub this Wednesday, Oct. 17. From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., the restaurant’s in-house pasta chef Pasta Bella will introduce guests to her wonderful, freshly made pastas. Enjoy (free) samples, learn about The Wine Pub’s regular artisanal pasta-making classes, purchase pasta to go and settle down near the outdoor fire with a glass of vino and dive into as much pasta as your heart desires. Ten percent of pasta retail sales go to Shades of Pink Foundation California in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Full dinner menu available. Walk-ins welcomed.
