In Search of Lunchtime Pasta, from Disappointing to Excellent - Knead & Co., Pasta Sisters, Cento Pasta Bar, Bulgarini, Factory Kitchen and Drago Centro

Hi @Ns1,

They recommend calling first before you make the drive. They still have some as of lunch time, but Leo Bulgarini will have another batch for sure next week.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

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Uni pasta! It’s so good!

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Ume shiso is such a nice combo. It’s good not only in a maki roll (especially refreshing with yamaimo), but also in a steak sauce (with a little bit of beef fat).

I wish there were more great itameshi restaurants.

And not hard to make at home, too! Especially if in LA. We’d get a box of uni from Maruhide Uni Club, and whatever was leftover, after using it on spot prawns and our attempts at nigiri sushi, use it for uni pasta. Spaghetti by Monograno Felicetti from Guidi Marcello, lots of uni - no cream, just straight uni, a touch of sliced garlic, maybe even a little dashi near the end, and julienned shiso on top!

The semolina fusili at Gjelina looks a little heavy in texture - the fusili seems a bit dense compared to the sparse uni.

@Chowseeker1999 - great report, as usual. Thanks for providing the good intel.

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I like ume shiso simply garnishing cucumbers as well. Really refreshing in the summer.

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What club?

Closed. You’re too late.

Thanks @BradFord. :slight_smile:

Your recipe for homemade Uni Pasta sounds wonderful. I must try this soon. :slight_smile:

Wasn’t that great anyways

But (sort of) re-opened by alumnae as Miyabi Uni.
I never when to original so I cannot compare (but I heard it wasn’t that great) but I can vouch for this one’s uni pasta - excellent. So was the kara - age and the uni sashimi.

Hi Chowseeker1999 -

Nice distraction there :wink:.

This is something I’ve thought about. With the exception of Cacio e Pepe and a couple of other dishes - where the pastas are more dressed than sauced - I have to admit, sauce and not the actual pasta is my love. My fantasy is a Sauce Restaurant where you can choose from a variety of receptacles or not. My receptacle would be crostini!

I can tell if it’s bad pasta or great pasta, but the subtle nuances escape me. I saw a while back what you wrote about Maccheroni Republic and thought “Thanks a lot Julia Child. Now I need to go back and really pay attention to what he/she observed.” You’re so good at this!

I had the Cioppino (lots of crostini). But couldn’t keep my fork out of my cousin’s Bianchi & Neri - black and white vermicelli, shrimp, mushroom & roasted pancetta in a creamy bisque :heart_eyes:.


Internet photo

To make a long story short :wink:, I guess my favorite pastas would be simple, like a spaghetti or farfalle. But I do like lasagna and make a pretty good Lasagna Bolognese al Forno.

Thanks for letting me express those thoughts :relaxed:. I look forward to trying Evan Funke’s Felix.

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Thanks for the thoughts @TheCookie. :slight_smile: Thanks for the tip on the Bianchi & Neri, I’ll keep that in mind for next time. :slight_smile: (And yes, the sauces (in general) are definitely wonderful
 getting a bit of crostini / bread and sopping up the sauce = awesome! :grin:)

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Like minds :relaxed:.

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Earlier this week I woke up and hungered for pasta for breakfast. So, because I am a problem solver, I Ubered downtown to Cento and had:

Gnocchi with mushrooms


Very good, the gnocchi doesn’t have any potato in it, so it’s almost like a dumpling. I really liked the mushrooms, and texture of the gnocchi.

Pasta with lobster and uni


This doesn’t look anything like the Instagram pictures posted by Cento. It was a bit fishy, I don’t know if it’s an unfortunate result of the bad uni curse, or if they overly-reduced the lobster shells for the stock, but it wasn’t as stellar as most of the pasta sauces. I liked it, didn’t love it. (I added a touch of cream when warming up the leftovers, which made the sauce more subtle.)

Baguette and burratta


Cento has bread now! This was excellent. The bread was crusty and light and chewy. A beautiful example of a baguette. It was served on a pool of fruity olive oil, with a sprinkle of finishing salt on the milky, delicate, superb burratta. Excellent sourcing of ingredients.

I had a couple glasses of red, and a giggling group of six young Asian women next to me had rosé, plus they brought boxes of various fancy donuts, cut into bite size pieces, which they shared with the chefs, and offered to me. What a cute, fun group to be seated next to. :slight_smile:

When I left, I was nearly a block away and on other side of the street, when I hear, “Miss, miss!” One of the guys was running after me with my leftovers! So grateful, it was all definitely worth bringing home. It was very nice, especially considering they had a fairly full restaurant at the time.

I can’t wait until they bring back the pasta carbonara! And ragu. So much good food to be had here.

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Hi @Bookwich,

Glad you liked it! :slight_smile: And that’s a good idea (Uber); makes it easy to skip the parking hassle.

The Gnocchi and the Bread & Burrata sound fantastic. We had the same experience as you with the Uni & Lobster Pasta. I think it’s the sourcing for the Uni
 Chef Avner probably isn’t getting the AAA-grade Uni reserved for top Sushi restaurants.

It’s odd, because I loved the regular uni pasta, but this version doesn’t work.

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Grabbed a quick bite at Cento today on my lunch break

Gnocchi and Pork Ragu + Fennel Pollen

Also had baguette and burrata like above

All still as good and chill as always

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An Italian grandma dies every time a tiny portion of Cento pasta is served

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Question: Does Cento Pasta Bar serve wine or only at night when it’s Mignon Wine Bar. Thanks!

They have wine, but not all the wine bar wines. Last time I was there, it was one white and one red. Pretty nice table wine, though!

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Okay, cool. That’s good enough. I’ll be in the area with sister and cousin and may finally get a chance to check it out. We’ll need wine. Thanks!

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