When owners Mike and Karen Pirraglia first conceived of Pasta Moto, their idea was to offer inexpensive and fresh Italian food—fast. They opened in the Westfield San Francisco Centre in 2006 and have since expanded to Novato’s Hamilton Marketplace. The concept is simple: Italian favorites de-livered in as little as one minute (which might sound impossible, but they have the technology to cook things that fast). Custom-ers order at the counter, take a number to a table (there’s a large outdoor patio too) and then are immediately delivered hot, fresh food. It’s family friendly as well as a great choice for people on the go who want something other than traditional fast food.
The Pirraglia family has been in the restaurant business since 1992, first starting in New York and Connecticut with the upscale Tuscan Oven eateries. At Pasta Moto, there’s a self-serve wine bar that offers various sizes of pours from premium Italian and do-mestic wines. I tried the Satori Ferdi Bianco, a “super white” with full flavor and stone fruit elements, and the Novas Carmenere/Cabernet Sauvignon blend, a thick, dark and lush treat.
The menu offers appetizers, pizzas, pastas, panini, salads, en-trées and desserts, as well as daily specials. Our meal started with the popular Insalata Moto, with endive, radicchio, goat cheese, walnuts and pears, tossed with raspberry vinaigrette. Next came a delicious bruschetta, very crisp with lots of garlic and olive oil, fresh tomatoes (only imported San Merzano tomatoes are used) and shaved parmesan. Garlic lovers will especially enjoy it. For pizzas, you can choose a slice or an entire pie; all are made with a thin crust and fresh toppings. We tried the margherita, which had flavorful tomato sauce, melted mozzarella and fresh basil; and the turkey meatball pizza (you can get the meatballs on their own as well, which are melt-in-your-mouth tender and herbaceous) with pesto sauce.
The pastas we tried were sweet ricotta ravioli with tomato-ba-sil sauce, rigatoni with Bolognese sauce (chunky, small pieces with a hint of pepper) and fusilli with spicy arrabbiata tomato sauce (a solid, building heat). All were served perfectly al dente. Entrées in-cluded tender chicken marsala and chicken parmesan, both thin-sliced and not overly spiced so the sauces were the stars. The fresh salmon special came with creamy, buttery red mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach, cherry tomatoes and a lemon-parsley sauce—a beautiful presentation and generous portion for the price.
Desserts were homemade tiramisu and creamy crème brulée that had a nice touch of fresh berries on top.
