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Penne Pomodoro Packs Plenty o’ Pasta Panache
By Anthony Lowenberg and Michael Anderson
Wow, check out that headline – fantastico! You may have thought we were getting tired of alliterating, but we were just getting warmed up! This month, we packed up the SUV’s with supplies and trekked to a whole other city, University Park, Texas (about 90 miles west of Tyler). After coming to a complete stop at each stop sign, looking both ways, and continuing on at a brisk 29 miles per hour, we finally reached our destination, Penne Pomodoro in Snider Plaza (the shopping center along Hillcrest, between Lovers and University). The Dallas Observer voted PP the most kid friendly restaurant in Dallas, so we took along one squealing four-month-old named Myles to see if the joint lived up to its reputation.
Because the squealing was rapidly becoming more of a screeching, we opted to sit outside, Al Fresco. We’re not sure who this Al Fresco is, but he makes terrible jokes. At 6:30pm on a Sunday, PP was almost empty, but by 7:30pm, it was hopping not only with families with kids, but people on dates and groups of yuppies, some having traveled from as far away as Highland Park, Texas (about 50 north of Hillsboro, Texas).
PP has a nice variety of wines by the glass, and bottles stayed mostly in the $20-$30 range. They also have prosecco, a light, sparkling Italian wine which is a nice aperativo (that’s Italian for before-dinner-drink-o) at $6 a glass. The bruschetta was appropriately garlicky, served with five thin slices of baguette. This appetizer was just OK, to be honest (usually we’re lying). Also appetized by us was the house foccaccia, which looked like a small sauce-less pizza. It was light, crispy and delicious served fresh out of their pizza oven with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And the special appetizer of the night, calamari steak over a salad, was served perfectly grilled and drizzled with lemon juice. It was perfectly cooked, tasty and large enough to actually be an entr?e. In fact, it was good enough to get the authentic Italian seal of approval, which is kinda like the kiss of death only the exact opposite (and a lot less garlicky!). The special entr?e of the night, lamb shank, served on a bed of fettucine, was meaty and yummy. And the regular entrees were just as fantastic. Baked ziti, which at most mid-priced restaurants is just a lifeless goo of mozzarella and pepperoni, included sweet and spicy Italian sausage, and instead of being infused with too much cheese, was covered with a fine layer of mozzarella and parmesan. The eggplant parmesan was likewise a cut above most Italian restaurants around here.
Desserts ran the gamut, and we opted for cheesecake, cappuccino pie, and a lava cake with vanilla ice cream. They were all good, if a little standard. But they weren’t bad, and after such a great meal, we didn’t notice if the desserts weren’t steller. For those of you who don’t like to travel out of town for dinner, there is also a second location in the Preston-Forest shopping center. When Myles is on solids, we’re definitely coming back. On our Super LawyerTM-advertising gavel scale, where one gavel is an eight-point font ad and five gavels is a fold out spread, we’re proud to give Penne Pomodoro our first four-and-a-half gavel rating – Mangia y’all!
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