Italian Village is Home to Homemade Pasta

Spaghetti and meatballs was one of my favorite dinners as a child. If it was on the menu at a restaurant that my parents took me to, then you can be sure that's what I was going to order.

I still love spaghetti and meatballs. It’s the ultimate comfort food in my book. Whenever I feel a bit down, slurping down a big plate of the stuff always brings a big smile to my spaghetti-sauced face. I just need to keep a pile of napkins nearby.

As basic as a meal as it may be, I feel this classic dish is a great way to weed the good Italian restaurants from the bad. Seriously, if you can’t make a quality meatball and pasta, well, then you’re just not going to do anything good in Italian.

All this cold weather certainly put me in the mood for some warm, filling pasta. So, I headed on over to the , 16605 Pearl Road, to feed my fix. (When are they going to be finished with all that construction on Pearl? What a pain!)

There was no doubt at what I was going to order, but I still thought I should sample an additional item from the lunch menu. It was a toss-up between pizza and my final choice. Since my waiter told me their Parmesans are very, very popular, how could I refuse? And, when I think Parmesan, I think veal. (I did overhear a table near me rave about the eggplant Parmesan.)

I started with a cup of their wedding soup, which was excellent. It was a good blend of little meatballs and chicken. I also had a side salad that was fresh and crisp if a tad small. Hey, I love my lettuce. The house dressing was a pretty red color and very flavorful.

I didn’t know at the time I ordered that the Italian Village makes many of their pastas from scratch, which includes the spaghetti that came with my lunch. I was impressed and found it luscious. It was firm yet yielding. My meatball was also quite good, so good, in fact, that I really wished my lunch came with two.

Not that I needed a second meatball since I still had my veal Parmesan to taste. It, too, proved to be quite pleasing. I can see why it’s so popular.

The rigatoni that came with it was fine, though it is not one of the homemade pastas to be found at the Italian Village, so I pretty much stuck to the spaghetti on the other plate. Other freshly made pastas include fetticinni, linguinni and whole wheat pasta. (I would have loved to have sampled that last one!) The meat and the cheese ravioli are also homemade. I do beieve I need to make a return visit!

Normally, I skip dessert but I just couldn’t say no to the cannoli, which is also made on the premises. It was delightfully crunchy with a wonderfully smooth, creamy filling. I ate it slowly and enjoyed every single moment.

With such good food, you may want to pick up the recently started customer reward card that offers discounts on future visits. On Monday and Tuesday you’ll earn 10 percent of your final bill on your reward card. It’s 5 percent the rest of the week. Great deal!

With homemade pasta and desserts, I think I may have to take up permanent residence at this Italian Village.