Pastavino

By Billa

There are about a zillion Italian restaurants on Staten Island. What makes Pastavino stand out? Its location. The restaurant is part of Urby, a charming complex of restaurants on the Navy Pier in Staten Island, right on the waterfront.

As the name implies, Pastavino has an extensive wine collection. Here their wine bottles form a dramatic back wall in the restaurant

Not wanting to consume alcohol, I was glad to see that the wine menu offered non-alcoholic alternatives. Besides Mocktails, there was a variety of Italian sodas. I chose the sparkling limonata, a bubbly, lemonade-like drink that might have been San Pellegrino.

For my main course, I ordered Pollo Limone - Frenched chicken breast with a wonderful lemony broth. The chicken itself was moist, tender, and flavorful. Accompanying it were fregola, a pasta that is similar to Israeli couscous, but slightly larger. It was the perfect vehicle for the sauce, as it absorbed its lemony goodness. There was also crisp broccoli rabe, providing a nice textural contrast.

We were a group of six. One of our friends had salmon with eggplant sauce. He thought it was ordinary and not special. Another had the bronzino with kale and hazelnuts and said it was outstanding.

My husband, Martin, had panko-crusted flounder with arugula, zucchini, fried capers, and a pink wine sauce. He said it was very flavorful and he especially liked the zing of the fried capers.

Dessert was Torta Mousse al Cioccolato - an impressively tall ten-layer cake made of alternating layers of dark chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. There were also 2 Prosecco-soaked strawberries on the plate. It was beautiful to look at and the cake was moist, but the taste was not as luscious as I thought it might be.

I look forward to returning and trying other selections on the menu.