Restaurant Review: Cascina Spinasse Trattoria Pastificio Artigianale

A long and complex name for a small, quaint and authentic restaurant on Capitol Hill. A trattoria is generally a more casual restaurant in Italy and Pastificio Artigianale translates to artisan pasta and that is what this restaurant is most lauded for. Monday night, I celebrated a friend's birthday there and the pasta WAS perfection, but that was just one of the many reasons the experience was glorious. The ambiance, food and wine were suberb overall and the warm, overjoyed company of dear friends made everything taste, look and feel even better.

The restaurants decor is a whimsical collection of mismatched tables and chairs and pretty antiques. Lace curtains cover the front windows and a dining bar overlooks an open kitchen. It's comforting to see the restaurants well-known chef owner, Justin Niedermeyer, working feverishly in the kitchen. We truly had the best table in the house - a small round Cararra marble four-top in the restaurants front window. It's the only table that is not given to the currently very popular trend of communal dining, which means you might be dining with strangers. This is not something I am a big fan of. True, it can be fun meeting new people at dinner, but I would prefer to enjoy the company of the people I chose to go out with in the first place. I really want to focus all my attention on them and the meal. Anyway, so we three were more than delighted to find this perfect little table stood waiting just for us. Definite squealing commenced. Things were off to a wonderful start.

We all had a glass of the prosecco - Villa Sparina. It was lush, with more honey and body to it than most Italian sparklers I've had. We decided to forgo the family style courses option offered on the menu and pave our own way, sharing everything. We started with the Antipasto misto della casa. Roasted cardoons with toasted bread crumbs, anchovies with arugula pesto and firm egg yolk crumbles, thinly sliced poached veal with a rich tuna aioli (heavenly!), a chicory salad with roasted rabbit, prosciutto, lardo, soppressata and lovely lovely bread. It was the perfect combination of familiar and totally unique items and we were all very impressed and happy. Next, we had Tajarin al ragu. This hand-cut pasta is the most finely cut strand I've ever seen (think of angel hair cut in half!). The mouth feel was so wonderful and it was combined with a rich and classic bolognese style ragu. Another pasta was ravioli stuffed with ricotta, with shaved porcini, sauteed nettles and a butter sage sauce. Very nice, though a bit too subtle. Sauteed housemade sausages on lacinato kale were awesome. With the pastas and sausages we enjoyed an absolutely wonderful Barbara d' asti. This varietal is such a consistently delicious choice when picking from Italian wines and we all loved it.

I have to say, I personally did not like the dessert. It was a steamed chocolate custard that was infused with a minty flavor, but not in a familiar chocolate mint kind of way, but more in an herbacious soapy flavor way. I was alone in this impression at the table however, so it wasn't a matter of it being bad, simply that I didn't personally like it. The hazelnut meringue cookies we had alongside were better. Not too sweet and powerfully toasty nutty.

This is a wonderful, homey restaurant. There is nothing urban or modern in its feel. It is comforting and feels truly Italian, with great pride in ingredients and techinque on all levels. I highly recommend it.