Fresh produce, imported ingredients and homemade pastas are combining to bring the flavors of northern Italy to downtown Chattanooga at the new-to-Chattanooga restaurant Pasta Italia.
"Of all the products that we have, 80 to 90 percent are imported," said restaurant owner and chef Michele D'oto, a native of Modena, Italy. "I am working to create the flavor that is there [in Italy] right now here in Chattanooga."
Chef and Pasta Italia owner Michele D'oto, right, poses with his wife Laura Derrick. The couple recently moved themselves and their restaurant to Chattanooga after operating Pasta Italia in Collierville, Tenn., for six years.He listed cheeses, cold cuts, oils, plum tomatoes and meats as some of the main ingredients he imports to create thoroughly authentic dishes in the restaurant.
"We get everything fresh, we do everything from scratch and everything is made in house," he said.
Open for lunch and dinner and located in the lower level of the Tallan Building on M.L. King Boulevard, Pasta Italia offers appetizers, sandwiches, pasta and several meat and fish dishes for lunch, with an expanded dinner menu beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The dinner menu offers a wide variety of pastas including lasagnas, raviolis stuffed with imported ingredients, cannelloni, penette, gnocchi and linguini. All pastas are served as either an appetizer or an entrée. Main course dishes are available and range from lamb chops to veal sorrento. Italian wine, grappa, limoncello and sambuca are also available in addition to a full bar.
"We are offering something in addition to what is already here," said D'oto, who said he considers his hometown and regional influences as one of the factors that differentiates his restaurant's food from other restaurants in the area.
According to him, the restaurant originally started in Biloxi, Miss., as an authentic Italian market, but as people asked to try food D'oto was creating with ingredients from the market, a restaurant developed. After eight years in Biloxi, Hurricane Katrina wiped out the restaurant and forced D'oto and his family to move to Collierville, Tenn., where they had relatives. After being in business for six years in Collierville, D'oto made the decision to move to Chattanooga.
"I saw more opportunity to grow here and do more of the things I wanted to with food," he said. "We were pushed to Collierville because of Katrina, but moving to Chattanooga was a choice."
After being open only a short time in Chattanooga, Pasta Italia is already acquiring a growing base of local customers.
"The food and service are excellent," said Jimmy Biddle, who has eaten there three times since its opening. "They really go all out."