Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Pastaria co-owners Donna Decanti and Paul Novi complement their pasta meal with a fine Italian wine.

Pastas, sauces and salads are a specialty at Pastaria

By Suzanne Cristallo

Donna Decanti and Paul Novi have benefitted from Italian recipes accumulated from seven generations of their families: some of hers originating with great-grandparents in Calabria, Italy, and his with his grandfather, a Venetian chef. The pooled results can be tasted at their Pastaria and Market in Los Gatos, where pastas, sauces and salads can be enjoyed on the premises or taken home.

A popular take-home item is the pescatore sauce, made with carmelized onions and created by Novi, who studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. The Pennsylvania native also specializes in fat-free and vegetarian dishes, such as Venetian soup.

Diners enjoying the bright atmosphere of walls painted by Taylor Blackwell to resemble an Italian storefront can settle in to the chewy splendor of cheese-stuffed panzotti smothered in their favorite sauce, or angel hair pasta with alfredo and sun-dried tomatoes.

"Actually, alfredo sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and pesto was voted the favorite," Decanti recalls of the unique research program she conducted prior to opening the Pastaria.

The Pastaria, recognizable as the small building with the big mural by artist John Pugh filling an outside wall, started as a deli in 1995. It was patterned after the many North Beach delis Decanti had known in San Francisco. A Los Gatos resident since 1991, Decanti saw a need here for Italian food to take home.

For several months before opening the eatery, Decanti--who had grown up cooking but strayed from the kitchen for 12 years while she styled hair--returned with a purpose and started creating sauces at home.

Twice a week, a stream of about a dozen friends would come by her house and pick up samples of her creations. She asked them to fill out an accompanying questionnaire. She put the resulting favorite choices on the menu.

"We just plunged," she recalls of their deli opening. "It was really scary the first three months. I wasn't sure we were going to make it. We were always busy, but we just needed more."

Step by step, the trade increased and the menu expanded, resulting eight months later in their adding the sit-down restaurant. "We opened with one idea, and it just evolved with its own momentum," Decanti says.

Decanti and Novi stagger their schedules so one or the other is always there. Several days a week, Decanti's 5-year-old son can be seen helping after school, wiping the display cases or putting napkins on the table.

The partners pride themselves on making their own pasta: egg-pasta spaghetti as well as pastas made with herbs, rosemary and garlic and lemon pepper for starters. Customers may also special-order other kinds to complement a dinner at home. Wines from Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Saratoga and Bonny Doon can be purchased for an average of $16, as well as Italian wine from Venice.

The Pastaria and Market, 49 E. Main St., Los Gatos. Open for retail and lunch Mon.-Fri.,11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Retail and dinner Mon.-Thu., 5-9:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat., 5-10 p.m. Closed daily 2:30-5 p.m. and Sundays. 399-3477. Orders may be faxed to 399-3477.

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