Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Palazzio

{I'm posting every day this month for the 31 Days writing challenge!
Click
here to see an introduction and a list of all the posts I've written so far.}



To kick off this little series, I feel it is my duty to tell you about a place called Palazzio.  It’s an Italian restaurant on downtown State Street whose slogan is, “People don’t leave here hungry.”  

If I could assign them a new slogan, though, it would be, “People don’t leave here without first eating 47 garlic knots.”  

Palazzio is a family style restaurant, meaning they serve pasta in two sizes: half order or full order.  The servers usually say something along the lines of, “The half order is perfect for two hungry people, or one VERY hungry person.  The full order blah blah blah...”  

You don’t even need to listen about the full order, because here’s the thing: the half order is actually enough for two VERY hungry people, with leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  And if you are there with a big group, you still only want half orders, because then you can get a few different dishes for everyone to share.  (The full order could feed a small country.  Just sayin’.)

But perhaps you are wondering about those aforementioned garlic knots.  (And if you aren’t wondering about them, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?)  Every time you go to Palazzio, your server will take your drink order and then offer you a tray with a beautiful little mountain of fresh-out-of-the-oven knots of bread drenched in minced garlic and herby, buttery goodness.  

DO NOT DECLINE THIS OFFER (unless you are allergic to gluten, and if you are, they totally have gluten free pasta here!).  And when you inevitably finish all of those garlic knots, fear not: they will always bring you more, no matter how many times you ask.  (And did I mention they’re free?)  



Now, since you already know you will be filling up on garlicky goodness before your food even arrives, there’s no need to look at silly things on the menu like salad or soup.  Just...no.  (I mean, I’m sure those are good, too, but come on.  NOODLES!)  Browse the pasta offerings, and then pick one and decide that you would like it, but you want to substitute fusilli pasta instead of rotini.  And you also want to add some roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts!  

Basically, anything on the menu is completely open to whatever substitutions or additions you want to make, at no additional cost.  Want chicken instead of sausage?  No problem.  Want to try it with the lemon caper sauce instead of marinara?  Live on the edge!  

Once your pasta arrives, go ahead and eat approximately six bites of pure deliciousness before you are too full to breathe.  Pop one more garlic knot for good measure, and then get yourself a little to-go container and learn how tasty leftover Palazzio still is the next day.

And okay, if you manage to actually have a little bit of room left for dessert, go ahead and try the tiramisu.  It doesn’t suck.


(DISCLAIMER: I think a good chunk of this series will be dedicated to some of my other favorite food spots in town, because Santa Barbara has enough restaurants that you could go to a different one every single day of the year and not hit them all.  So obviously I’ve found a few noteworthy food establishments that deserve to be recognized!) 

5 comments:

  1. I need to go back to SB! I am taking notes!

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  2. Those garlic knots look amazing! My mouth is watering.

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    Replies
    1. Oh Mom, have we not taken you there yet?! You need to come visit so we can. :-)

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