(Photo by Brett Callwood)
One of the key ingredients to great Italian food, besides the actual ingredients, is authenticity. All too many Italian restaurants have little to no connection to the country of Italy, which is a massive flaw when the food is so connected to the region. That’s not the case with Pasta Sisters, a true family affair born across the ocean.
“This story begins in Padova, a small town in Northern Italy, where chef Paola Da Re and her siblings used to spend their afternoons helping their mother Maria Giovanna in the kitchen,” they say on their website. “Cooking and baking was not only Maria Giovanna’s passion, but also her way to spend quality time with her kids by teaching them recipes, sharing the importance of tradition, and encouraging their creativity.”
Chef Paola and her three children, Francesco, Giorgia, and Francesca, relocated to the United States in 2010. She would eventually open her first Pasta Sisters location. Now there are two – Mid City and Culver City.
“Food was always powerful for us, it brought us together and shaped our memories,” they say. “Almost every recipe at Pasta Sisters has a family story behind it that is as important as the ingredients of the dish itself. Chef Paola spends countless hours searching for the best ingredients that both Italy and California have to offer, and her dishes are the result of a balance of family traditions, quality ingredients, and her personal touch.”
We were here a year ago and sampled one of the simplest items on the menu, to really
get a measure of their skills. We had spaghetti with the signature tomato and basil sauce.
Back then, everything was right on the money. The pasta was cooked beautifully, not overcooked but not crunchy. It didn’t taste like dried out grocery store pasta–the texture was perfect.
This time however, we wanted to challenge the menu a little more and went for the clams with pasta. This dish only comes with spaghetti–they’re purists and offer no choice of pasta with the shellfish.
They know what they’re doing though; the olive oil, fresh garlic and parsley blend beautifully with the impeccably-cooked pasta and fresh clams. The meat within the open shells isn’t too chewy and overcooked, and the garlic in particular brings the fruits de mer flavor to life.
There are no complicated ingredients here. The trick is the freshest tastiest ingredients, combined to the greatest effect.
Pasta Sisters is located at 3280 Helms Ave, Culver City 90232. Call 424-603-4503 or visit pastasisters.com.
Dining and Cooking