Since today is Father's Day I was given permission to pick where to go to lunch yesterday (Saturday) as we typically go out for Saturday lunch. I was considering all sorts of weird, off the wall eateries, but my teenage son always tries to steer me back to the more staid and conventional selections. After my wife informed me we even had a $20 off "frequent diner" reward from Pasta House, I decided I would be a good father and go there where everyone would be happy. I like the University City location even though the parking lot there is tiny and crowded, since it seems the best integrated into the U City/Olivette neighborhood there on Delmar and Old Bonhomme, and it does not have so much of the standard "strip mall suburban cookie cutter" feel as other Pasta House locations (like the one in Creve Coeur at Olive and Ballas.) When you enter it always has almost a musty basement like smell which I take as a positive since it makes it seem less sterile, and more like an older neighborhood establishment (which it is.) Being there made me realize it was the first Pasta House we had visited in the St. Louis area probably 25 years ago, and it is still standing whereas other locations we had frequented have all closed up (Galleria, Plaza Frontenac, Dorsett.) I think the University City location on Delmar is one that will survive forever.
Upon entering we were seated at a nice round table in the middle of the room. The last time we had been there it was just my wife and I, and we were in a booth about 10 feet away where they were doing a rather loud sports radio program with Andy Benes and Frank Cusumano. Luckily they were not there today! We were greeted by a very nice, young lady waitress, Stephanie, who not only was very attentive, but helped us make decisions that actually saved us money. My daughter, for example, wanted the baked mostaciolli without meatballs with a salad. So she suggested he get the lunch spaghetti which just included salad, and she would just substitute the pasta with penne noodles and bake it will extra cheese on top. Since my wife then did not have to share her large salad with my daughter, she could just purchase a small single serve, so that saved us money too. Then the waitress suggested the cheesy garlic bread for just $1.99, and since it sounded so good and was so inexpensive we got some. We received a large portion of garlic bread for that price that was easily split 5 ways for the group of us, and it was well worth it. As I already mentioned, my daughter selected the mostaciolli without meatball and my wife selected just a salad plus bread. As for the rest of our group, my son selected the pizza with bacon and msuhrooms and my mother-in-law selected the Sicilian Grilled Pesce. Then it was my turn to select. I always like to try something new and I was deciding between the new Sausage Sandwich and the Linguini with Salciccia. I went with the linguini and it was a good choice. As usual the serving size was generous which meant it could end up being lunch for both Saturday and today. Typically I do eat a full Pasta House serving while I am there, but I will have to say having ordered the garlic bread made is easier for me to save 40% of my linguini for today so I could save it for lunch. And, yes, I did enjoy the linguine, but I knew I would. Pasta House may not be the most "gourmet" quality of Italian restaurants (especially in St. Louis where there are a lot of good ones), but it is affordable and always consistently decent in quality.
While I was on the Pasta House site I noticed they actually have a gluten free menu which contains quite a few items. Whereas nobody in my family is gluten intolerant, my daughter now has a very close acquaintance from college who is, and we are much more aware of gluten free alternatives. In fact, my wife has just started up a gluten free recipe web site which she is filling with her own recipes. I always am impressed when restaurants try to include gluten free alternatives for all their possible customers.
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