This week Caroline picked Basta Pasta for Wednesday Night Dinner. It is this tiny Italian place near central square specializing in lots of pasta for not much money. I got there early, as I am prone to do so I walked down to the river and took in the sights. It was a little hard to find, as it is not nearly as well marked underneath that overhanging awning as it is on the pictured side. We had 12 people this time, which is possibly the most since I’ve been with the group. That left exactly 8 seats remaining in the place. I got the Meatballs Pomodoro because home made meatballs sounded good; as it turns out, they weren’t so good, but the pasta was excellent. Everyone seemed to agree about the pasta. And there definitely was enough (Basta) pasta.
There was a bit of drama between a foreign friend of Jed’s and some locals occupying 4 of those seats. This was the kind of place where you stand in line, order, and then wait for your food’s name to be called out by a difficult to understand Italian. I’m not sure what the term is for that kind of restaurant, other than difficult. It seems that Jed’s friend and one of the locals order the same thing, Chicken Cacciatore (if memory serves), and the food did not come out in the same order in which the orders were placed, which is confusing enough. Jed’s friend ended up with what the local thought was his food. However, it took the local about 25 minutes to notice, well, maybe not to notice but to come over and yell at our poor friend. I, at the time, was clueless, and his yelling didn’t clue me in, and I speak English, so I don’t think the local was satisfied with the quite huh, he got, but he went away and continued eating the food he had received.
The last word on this place, and last week’s Italian place is that if you want really good Italian food you should goto the North End, even if it is more expensive.