With a concise menu of fresh pastas, salads, and a few other items, Pasta Supply Co. is now doing dinner service, with a somewhat unique service model that is neither traditional sit-down nor fast-casual.
Tablehopper brought us the news late last year that one of San Francisco's primo Italian-food chefs, Anthony Strong, was launching a new venture in the Richmond District called Pasta Supply Co. After a few months of retail sales of Strong's handmade pastas, as promised, the place has launched full dinner service, and Tablehopper was among the first to check it out this week.
The model seems to be geared toward quick and efficient neighborhood dining — and it could be more of a weeknight spot, or a weekend if all you're looking for is tasty, carb-y sustenance in between bar and club, or whatever.
"You could try to have a date here, but it would be a fast one," Ms. Tablehopper writes, noting that guests are greeted at the door by a host/staffer who will immediately guide you through the menu — and, perhaps without giving you a pause, take your order right away. (It seems like those who need extra time to decide can likely have it, but the focus is on efficiency, even before you sit down.)
There will be no reservations — it's all walk-in, and dinner is seven days a week, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Pasta options sound downright delicious — and I'd expect nothing less from Chef Strong, who did phenomenal work at Pizzeria Delfina and Locanda and later at his solo ventures Young Fava and the tragically short-lived Prairie.
The daily menu will feature five to six pastas, rotating and changing with the seasons. The one Tablehopper found there Monday features a rigatoni with lamb ragù; sweet corn raviolini with sauerkraut and fried peppercorns; maltagliata with basil pesto (anyone remember Farina's version?); and malfadine which can come vegetarian-style with just butter and cheese, or with perigord truffle butter for $5 extra, or topped with beef-cheek sugo for $6 extra.
None of these pasta dishes cost more than $20, which is crazy refreshing and something you can hardly find anywhere anymore in SF. There's also, for a splurge, a lobster-butter spaghetti dish for $22 — with the real splurge being an added six-ounce lobster tail ($30) slathered in 'nduja-spiked Calabrian XO sauce.
There is just one salad on the menu with a few add-ons, as well as "Pan'terra" bread, and a dish of five "juicy l'il meatballs" ($13).
Check out a sample menu here, at a URL hilariously called "onlypastafans." On Instagram, Strong hinted that there is a "super swanky ordering site" in the works, which may mean that the whole ordering-through-the-host situation is just temporary, and soon you will just sit down and order from your phone.
The wine selection also seems reasonably priced, with bottles topping out at $56 — and there's a retail store here, still, for pastas as well as wine, and for dining in the wines just get a $10 markup added. The by-the-glass list is priced $13-$16, and beers are just $5.
So the next time you're in the Richmond and have a hankering for good pasta, or if you're an Anthony Strong fan and want to see his latest innovation in casual pasta dining, check this place out.
Pasta Supply Co. - 238 Clement Street - Serving dinner seven nights from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Retail shop open at 10 a.m. daily, 9 a.m. on Sunday.
