Pasta doesn’t live up to its name

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2006 (7399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOST readers love the star system. I find it useful too, as a kind of shorthand to convey the gist of a column, but there are times when stars just don’t tell the whole story. It isn’t at all uncommon for a restaurant to serve some very good dishes, but not necessarily consistently, and/or not from all parts of its menu, thus making generalization difficult. This new Pasta la Vista is a case in point.

It’s a drab, free-standing building that turns out to be rambling yet warm and cosy within. Decor consists of a hodge-podge of artifacts, among them, over the central fireplace, a striking, big Plexiglas box that is lit from within. Also the occasional copy of a grand master — Botticelli’s Primavera, for one — that looks much better from across the room than it does close up.

Read the menu closely, and you may notice that the appetizers are pricey, in many cases higher than in some of our top establishments. Amici’s $9.25 mussels, for instance, cost less than these at $12; Provence’s $9 chicken livers less than these at $11, and Dubrovnik’s $13 crab cakes less than these at $14.50. Moreover, all of those restaurants include bread; Pasta la Vista, in most cases, doesn’t — it will cost an extra $2 for the house focaccia (good, but to me, included bread is sacred).

That said, some of the appetizers were among the best dishes I had here. Chicken livers braised in red wine (that one does come with grilled flat bread); mussels steamed in a creamy sambuca-spiked sauce; and — best of all — the “ultimate” crab cake that was pretty much all crab, with wonderful flavour and no discernible filler, garnished by a nice little green salad.

It was a shock, though, to see a single, smallish circle of crabmeat on that big plate, and astonishment got the better of me. Before I could stop myself I blurted out, “You mean that’s it? For $14.50? And no bread?” This prompted our sympathetic waitress to bring us a basket of focaccia on the house.

Other sampled appetizers were also expensive but less satisfying. Three deep-fried ravioli stuffed with seafood were OK, if unexceptional ($13.50), but the “surf and turf” was a complete failure ($12.50); the “turf” part — chunks of chorizo — was good, if you like your sausage ultra-hot, but the steamed clams in their shells were utterly juiceless and flavourless.

The greatest disappointments were the pastas, especially surprising in a restaurant called Pasta la Vista. I tried the linguine with fresh clams ($15), to see if the appetizer clams had been a one-time dud, but these too were dry, without enough juice to coat the pasta but with an overabundance of chili flakes that left my lips tingling.

Another sampled pasta was composed of pieces of roasted chicken finished in a cloyingly sweet cream and frangelico sauce, but not enough of it to moisten the dry linguine ($14). Worst of all was a stodgy mess of lasagna, composed primarily of countless layers of pasta that overwhelmed the almost undetectable filling ($14).

Main courses are of comparatively better value (although bread still costs extra), and two of them were excellent — lovely Pacific salmon roasted on a cedar plank, and glazed in a maple syrup and balsamic reduction ($19); and one of the all-time ultimates in comfort food, short ribs, braised to tenderness in a reduction of red wine and veal stock, with little onions and mushrooms ($19). With both come roasted carrots, zucchini and red pepper, and a choice of garlic mashed or roasted potatoes, all delicious.

The same menu is in use all day, with the exception of the prime rib roast, which is served after 5 p.m. only ($21 for eight ounces, $26 for 12 ounces).

Ours was an utter failure. For starters it took well over half an hour after we’d finished our appetizer before it turned up, and when it did, although the interior was rare as requested — near raw, actually — the surface was glazed brown (probably from sitting under a heat lamp, I’d guess), the texture was pulpy and the meat without flavour.

But credit where credit is due — everything was handled perfectly, an object lesson, in fact, to other restaurants on how such lapses should be treated.

As a replacement we were offered a rib eye steak that was tender and full of beefy flavour ($25), and both the steak and the roast were removed from the bill.

Desserts are few and mostly rich, among them a passable lemon torte, and a luscious panna cotta (i.e. cooked cream) topped by preserved cherries ($5.95 each). The selection of wines is extensive and interesting, with a generous number by the glass. As for the service, my impression was that the problems I encountered arose primarily in the kitchen; the staff out front was pleasant and attentive, albeit strained by having to cope with a big, packed house.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca