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Health & Fitness

Restaurant Review: Clayton's Pastaria 'La Verita'

With over 100 reviews of Gerard Craft's restuarants on-line, why do another one?

Gerard Craft, recently named a James Beard Midwest Finalist Chef, opened a new restaurant last Fall in Clayton called "Pastaria". About 1/2 of his 100 or so reviews are by Yelpers. Why do another review? Because it is so authentic!

The back story is that Craft toured Italy, sampling food and recipes and brought back only the best. "Mama Rodolico's Tiramisu" is one such creation: stacked layers of wafer-thin cake with no liqueur in it, the dessert practically floats above the plate, but I digress.

A dictionary search shows "Pastaria" is a made-up word with five or six on-line using it to describe their pasta and pizza resturarnts. Craft's tag-line, "La Verita", is a real word and translates as "The Truth". Having traveled to Italy three times in the past dozen years, I can vouch for the authenticity of the dishes I sampled.

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For our appetizer, we ordered the Margherita pizza---the thin crust with tomato  and wisps of spinach took me back to Venice where my mother and I ate pizza by the slice in an out of the way palazzo. The Canestri Cacio e Pepe, a pasta of pecorino, black pepper, and Grana Padano, took me back to dinner in Rome. Again, we sampled the gelato and it was as perfect as I remember it in Italy.

We did not eat any of the soups or salads. There are three entrees (chicken, beef, and salmon) from $16.95-18.95 and 10 pastas from $10.95-15.95. The 8 pizzas include one with pickled jalapeno relish and range in price from $9.95-12.95. We did sample the Roasted Brussels Sprouts, pan seared in olive oil and chili, and they were incredible; roasted carrots, broccoli, and crispy potatoes round out the vegetables (available after 5:00p.m).

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The restuarant seats 60 and diners are almost elbow-to-elbow with a 20' ceilings and high noise volume. We found the atmosphere exciting, as in a trendy Chicago or New York dining venue. Staff was courteous and efficient. There is free validated parking in the garage above Pastaria.

We give Pastaria five out of five stars!

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