Dining Divas Get \u201cFresh\u201d\u00a0At Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9<\/p>\n
Travel south on Hampton or Watson Road in South St. Louis, and you can enjoy a great many restaurants.\u00a0 Trattoria Marcella.\u00a0\u00a0 LoRusso\u2019s Cucina.\u00a0\u00a0 Del Pietro\u2019s.\u00a0 Just a few of my favorites.\u00a0 But one restaurant I\u2019ve overlooked so many times that was a surprising treat this month for the Dining Divas was Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
I had concerns upon first arriving.\u00a0 Stellina\u2019s is not typical of the type of restaurant we\u2019d choose.\u00a0 There\u2019s always a full bar.\u00a0 There\u2019s almost always more than one room.\u00a0 And there\u2019s always an area for bigger groups.\u00a0 Not Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 It is just that.\u00a0 A caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
We were pleased to have a couple absent Divas return to us.\u00a0 Our World-Traveling Diva made us all envious of her European vacations this year.\u00a0 Visiting Mexico and the East Coast as a couple Divas did the month before couldn\u2019t compare to the Mediterranean and France.<\/p>\n
And the Mommy-To-Be Diva joined us once again, except she is no longer \u201cMommy-To-Be\u201d.\u00a0 She brought along our newest (and teeniest) Dining Diva.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if Baby Diva was just so tired or if our conversations just bored her so much.\u00a0 She never made a peep or woke up.\u00a0 How happy everyone seemed as we all stared at the newborn sleeping soundly.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m surprised she didn\u2019t wake up.\u00a0 The tables sit tightly together, and a few too many made it overcrowded and loud.\u00a0 It was difficult hearing the conversations at our own table.<\/p>\n
But the food made up for the claustrophobia and noise.\u00a0 Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9 has a full menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads as well as daily pasta specials.\u00a0 These are unique and extremely fresh.\u00a0 Too often we overpay for chain store pasta that\u2019s never fresh or creative.\u00a0 You can tell that the owners of Stellina have a passion for the foods they make.\u00a0 They do it right.<\/p>\n
The Lasagna was an interesting combination of eggplant, artichoke, and chicken.\u00a0 The venturous Divas thought they made a great choice.\u00a0 The couple Divas who ordered the Butternut Squash Agnolotti made with pecan brown sugar rolled their eyes in pleasure with the first bite.\u00a0 Until that night, I\u2019d never heard of agnolotti but learned it\u2019s a ravioli-type of pasta.<\/p>\n
The Picky Diva had to take something from one menu item and another part from a different menu item to get what she was looking for.\u00a0 They gladly made it work for her and she was pleased; however, she was slightly surprised that her meal cost quite a bit more than she had expected (even so, it wasn\u2019t as much as chain stores).<\/p>\n
New Mommy Diva chose to deviate from the daily pasta specials and ordered the “Hog Wild” sandwich.\u00a0 It was shaved ham, bacon, slices of apple, white cheddar cheese, and sweet hot mustard on peasant bread.\u00a0 The apples definitely helped add sweetness to the saltiness of the ham and bacon, and she really enjoyed the sandwich.\u00a0 Do not order the Sea Salt Chips as a side.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be drinking water straight for days.<\/p>\n
To our disappointment, the desserts were just okay.\u00a0\u00a0 Skip theirs, and head to Ted Drewes which is just down the street.<\/p>\n
Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9 is great Italian food, but it felt like a \u201clunch\u201d place.\u00a0 We\u2019ll return, perhaps for lunch.\u00a0 Besides, who doesn\u2019t like getting fresh at lunch!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dining Divas Get \u201cFresh\u201d\u00a0At Stellina Pasta Caf\u00e9 Travel south on Hampton or Watson Road in South St. Louis, and you can enjoy a great many restaurants.\u00a0 Trattoria Marcella.\u00a0\u00a0 LoRusso\u2019s Cucina.\u00a0\u00a0 Del Pietro\u2019s.\u00a0 Just a few of my favorites.\u00a0 But one restaurant I\u2019ve overlooked so many times that was a surprising treat this month for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columnists","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n