Moe's Pasta Bowl Gives You Italian for Less Dinero

Author: Dave

Close your eyes. Now, imagine real Italian pasta dishes for $8 an entree. OK. Open your eyes, get in the car and head to Moe's Pasta Bowl Italian Mix. Order the pasta. Wish granted.

On recommendations from friends, we brought the family of four (me, wife Kirsten, The Girl, 8, and The Boy, 4) to Moe's Pasta Bowl on a recent Friday evening. At Moe's, you do the ordering at the counter kinda like fast food ... but your service is more in line with a full-service restaurant. Friendly servers brought out our orders quickly (which wasn't surprising as the the dining area was lightly populated). The food tasted fresh. The atmosphere was pleasant. We liked the warm decor, dominated with hues of gold, but also liked that the dining area is well lit. We could see much of the kitchen, which we always like because you feel like there's nothing to hide. A cute, interesting touch: A large flat-screen TV in the main dining area was tuned to The Food Network, on mute with subtitles. My wife liked that ... she believes it shows that the owner really cares about food. (On this night, in between bites, you could soak up some inspiration courtesy of the Chef Jeff Project.)

Some people might wonder if the restaurant compares with Fazoli's, the fast-food "Italian" chain. We don't see much comparison. Fazoli's is food that anybody can make, given a pulse and a kitchen. Moe's food is closer to what you'd find in a classic Italian restaurant.

If Moe's Pasta Bowl were a rock band, Sauce would be the star lead singer. The pasta was nicely prepared, and so was the protein in our entrees. But, the sauces made the difference.

My Rigatoni and Sausage Classico had some kick, which I love. This dish contains rigatoni pasta, Italian sausage, onions, sweet peppers, basil and feta cheese in a spicy tomato sauce. Friends of mine had described the sauce as "zippy," and that about sums it up. The dish got better and better as I ate. I was left wanting more, which is always a good sign. Fact is, the portion was fine for me, but a little light on the meat ... if you want to beef it up, you might want to order the $2.29 side order of Italian sausage or Italian Meatballs.

Kirsten ordered the Farfalle Pollo, made with bowtie pasta, grilled chicken, sun-dried tomato, mushroom, pine nuts and parmesan cheese in a roasted Alfredo cream sauce. I was reading the other day in National Geographic that archaelogists found evidence of roasted pine nuts in Neanderthal caves 125,000 years ago ... and my wife found evidence during this meal that pine nuts can be just as delightful for modern-day humans. She also liked that the alfredo sauce was on the lighter side ... heavy, rich alfredo sauces tend to weigh you down, and Kirsten finds that heavier alfredo sauce doesn't taste as fresh. Her chief complaint was that a few of the mushroom stalks were "woodsy," and she had to spit them out. Otherwise, the mushrooms were tasty.

We also enjoyed the Caesar salad and its peppery dressing with fresh greens. In a word: Good.

DESSERT: Asked which dessert we'd like, my wife--drunk on her new-found power as a blogger--announced, "We'll take one of each." They cost about $4 each, but seriously ... we rarely do more than polish off one dessert between the four of us.

The canolis looked huge ... Kirsten commented: "I've been all over New York, and I've never seen a canoli that big." Our two canolis came home to our fridge, because we had plenty of cake to eat. The tiramasu was excellent, and the chocolate cake was a moist, satisfying treat that blended well with the scoop of ice cream and slathering of chocolate sauce.

When we got home and finally cut into one of the canolis ... it was extremely tasty and satisfying. This was a hearty filling, not as creamy as other canolis we've had. Kirsten said it has a cream cheese base with confectionary sugar ... and she was close. The norm is ricotta cheese, but owner/head chef Moe Alhussein says he uses marscapone, an Italian cheese similar to cream cheese, but higher-grade. (I will follow up with a special post about Moe and his compelling story.)


THE KIDS: One of the charms (?) of our 4-year-old son is that once you put a fork in his hand and put food under his nose ... he's absolutely unpredictable. There was a time that The Boy ate nothing but chicken ... and now he won't touch the bird, even deep-fried in McBatter. Not even macaroni and cheese is a safe bet for The Boy. He may like it at one place, and barely touch it at another. For the record, The Boy devoured Moe's Penne-Mac and Cheese. Almost ate it all. It's the small victories in life that are important. Mom tasted the mac-and-cheese, and she said it was good. Direct quote: "I'd eat it."

The Girl's palate is less discerning ... it's news when she doesn't like something at all. Did she like Moe's Stuffed Ravioli with Meat Sauce? Well, let me put it this way ... I was about one-fourth the way through my meal when I heard the girl mumble that she didn't get very much. She'd eaten all the ravioli and was begging for some more bread to soak up the sauce. I tasted the sauce ... it was good. (And her portion was fine, trust me. The Girl eats too fast ... a constant struggle.)

I'd give the place 4-1/2 out of 5 spoons in the family-friendly category. My only quibble is that the choices of side for kids are salad, soup or store-bought potato chips. Salad and soup, OK. But, instead of chips, some carrots and ranch dressing or a similar, simple health-conscious alternative would be nice. Many kids would not eat salad or soup.

OVERALL: Moe's Pasta Bowl Italian Mix is a good place for good Italian food at a reasonable price. Parents can find good food, and so can kids.

3-1/2 out of 5 spoons.

SCALE:
5 spoons -- a divine, out-of-body culinary experience
4 spoons -- top-notch establishment
3 spoons -- a good place to eat
2 spoons -- wouldn't recommend
1 spoon -- avoid at all costs

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