Fasta pasta

>> Tutti Giorni offers a variety of pasta all day, everyday

by IVY TOLCHINSKY

Now that I've had my fill of millennium hype ad nauseum, I can "dine out" on more important matters, like all those wonderful Montreal restaurants that are waiting for me and my palate. And since for most of us, this is the season to be thrifty, we seek out restaurants that are pretty inexpensive and preferably serve a type of cuisine that doesn't taste like turkey.

One of the best choices to fit this bill is pasta. I could probably eat it 12 times a week if I didn't mind becoming the centrefold for Monster Truck magazine. You can rarely go wrong when it comes to the versatile noodle, especially when a restaurant confidently bills itself as a pasta house.

Tutti Giorni (which has two locations, one in Laval and the other in DDO) is such an establishment. I visited the West Island restaurant on a busy lunch hour. I entered a warm and cozy room filled with lively conversation and was immediately drawn in by the magnificent smell of garlic and Mediterranean spices drifting from the open kitchen in the back.

The menu here basically consists of around 16 kinds of sauces including tomato, rose, pesto, carbonara and puttanesca. Any of these can be paired with a choice of spaghetti, penne, fettucine, capellini, to name a few. Tutti Giorni also offers a selection of stuffed pasta featuring favourites such as rotolo Milanase, fazzoletti, canelloni, conchiglie della mamma and tortellini.

There is always a table d'hote and, at $6.95 for lunch, it's a steal. We decided to experiment with a cross-section of pasta and sauces--some rose, others tomato-based, some stuffed and others plain. A mix 'n' match of dishes if you will.

First, we had to try the requisite Caesar salad, which I have been meaning to tell you is not really Italian. It actually originated in Mexico, of all places. But more on that another time. We were pleasantly surprised: the romaine was crisp and cold, the dressing light and tangy. And it was garnished creatively with fresh lemon slices.

The stracciatella Romana, a chicken broth with eggs, spinach and cheese, was less pleasing. The broth was loaded with salt and the eggs had not been properly beaten before they were introduced into the soup, leaving a rather unappetizing floating mass of semi-scrambled egg. But we came for the pasta, so let's move on.

If you are particularly hungry, the pasta trio is for you. I anticipated three different kinds of pasta and sauces, but it turned out to be rotolo Milanese, a manicotti and a giant shell, all stuffed with ricotta and spinach and generously bathed a rich rose sauce. Redundant yet scrumptious.

The duo is a dynamic combination of luscious gnocchi, a nice alternative to noodles, in the same rose sauce, partnered with penne arrabiata, a bold and peppery tomato-based sauce flavoured with shallots and garlic.

Our pasta festival continued with a mound of linguine vongole, a mild tomato sauce simmered with garlic and shallots and peppered with pieces of clam.

To round out the festivities, we sampled the amatriciana sauce on penne noodles. This is a tomato-based sauce with an attitude. The smoky flavour of the pancetta (a type of Italian bacon) gives this dish a distinctly hearty personality.

If you want to have dessert, decide early--our service was so speedy that the waiter brought us the bill before we could even decide if we wanted dessert. We tried the lobster claw. Nothing spectacular. Maybe the waiter was trying to tell us something. But hey, we came for the pasta and we were not disappointed. :

Tutti Giorni

Address: 3343-B Sources (DDO)

Phone: 421-3266

Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-10pm; Sat 4-10pm; closed Sunday

Best feature: Quick, cheap and decent pasta

Alcohol: Yes

Fish and seafood: Nothing other than clam sauce

Vegetarian friendly: Yes

Wheelchair access: Street level

Credit cards: Yes

Price: $10-15/person with tax and tip

Rating: ** 1/2 out of ****