WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

Penne Alla Vodka is usually my go-to dish at any Italian restaurant I am eating in for the first time. I think of it as my control experiment, I know how it tastes and therefore can attest to whether the dish I’m having is the best I’ve had or if it is lacking in anything.

La Mela, in my humble opinion, has the best Penne Alla Vodka dish ever.

They do not skimp on the pasta (as you can see in the picture above) and the sauce is rich and creamy! The atmosphere of the restaurant also adds to the experience. I went to La Mela during the summer and got to sit outside to have lunch. It’s a cute Italian ristorante in Little Italy that is run by a native Italian family.

The staff provides you with a basket of the warmest, softest bread and olive oil with balsamic vinegar. As a customer you get to munch on the bread while waiting for your antipasto or main course. Once the penne arrived I was absolutely consumed by it, barely even giving the bread a second look.

The Penne was present in abundance. I’ve eaten at different Italian restaurants or restaurants that serve Italian and the one flaw they all have is that they give you a plate with more sauce than actual pasta. For the sake of providing a visual think of the size of PAX pasta bowls, which is how most restaurants present their pasta. Now triple the PAX pasta bowl, this is a La Mela meal. 

The fact that there was a lot of pasta was my favorite part, but the overall texture and explosion of taste of the sauce really brought the pasta over the top. Many places water down the sauce too much and turn their pasta main courses into a relative of noodle soups. The Penne alla Vodka at La Mela is rich, creamy, not too salty, but with enough seasoning that you just cannot put your fork down.

The most amazing thing aside from the food, the meal is under 12 dollars.