Even if you had an Italian grandma, chances are, she didn’t make pasta from scratch on weeknights. If she did, your life has probably been all downhill from there. But things are looking up. The Wine Kitchen in Leesburg has your back.
In truth, Paulie’s Italian is part of an effort to survive. As outdoor seating becomes intolerably chilly, The Wine Kitchen is facing the challenges of its very limited indoor capacity. The solution? A ghost kitchen. Paulie’s Italian is serving curbside pickup and delivery with the same eye to detail that wins The Wine Kitchen fans.
My favorite case in point? My paper bag filled with pasta also included a red-and-white checked paper tablecloth to approximate dining in a red sauce spot back home in the NYC suburbs. Tiny containers of microgreens and grated cheese also come on the side, all in preparation for a foodie photo shoot.
As I mentioned, the pasta is homemade at Paulie’s. This is great, but it could use a few seconds less of boiling. The five minutes between pickup and dinner table was enough to make the noodles less than al dente. In the case of the spaghetti and meatballs, this barely mattered. The buttery red sauce was so tempting, I went back for bite after bite. The meatballs’ zip of lemon zest had the same effect. It’s a pity, then, that the rigatoni alfredo was a relatively wan-tasting interpretation thereof, which could have used more of everything except salt, which was abundant. The Caesar salad, however, made up for those faults with a lemon-fresh appeal.
Paulie’s isn’t cheap. The spaghetti and meatballs, for example, is $18 for a portion that didn’t leave me with leftovers. But on a night that safety and comfort are of utmost importance, Paulie’s is a delight for pasta lovers in search of a nonna’s fresh touch. // 7 S. King St., Leesburg
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