TOC Reviews: Slutty Pasta, Piccolo Sogno

• David Tamarkin profiles Jessica Volpe, who calls herself Pasta Puttana (yeah, you read it right) and makes and sells her fresh pasta at the Edgewater and Green City markets: red-chile linguine (or roasted tomato when she’s at Green City), golden-egg pappardelle, white-wine tagliatelle, and herbed tagliatelle. And now! Fun personal story about us: When we were in our first year of college, two critical things happened. First, we took Italian 101, and learned what the “puttanesca” in “pasta puttanesca” meant. Second, we lived a scant few blocks from a restaurant called Fresh Pasta, that served (you guessed it!) freshly-made pasta. Both of these things changed our life in nontrivial ways: we now giggle and say “slutty pasta!” whenever we see pasta puttanesca on the menu, and we will happily maul angry bears for the opportunity to eat freshly rolled-out pappardelle. [“The Pasta Puttana”]

• Speaking of Italian, Piccolo Sogno goes under the Heather Shouse-wielded knife this week. She has a hard time shaking off the glow of the patio — a dreamy, lush outdoor space with flickering lights and tinkling glass — to pay attention to the service and the food. But pay attention she does: the waiter is only a bracketing presence to the meal, taking orders and delivering the check, and (with some exceptions) the food is poorly executed. In particular, meats are uniformly overcooked. While the schtick of a wood-fired grill is a mouthwatering one, not being able to temper the flames is enough to lead Shouse to suggest that diners avoid the entrees entirely, focusing instead on the solidly executed pastas and small plates. [Shouse, TOC]

TOC Reviews: Slutty Pasta, Piccolo Sogno