Restaurant Review: Pava

Pava
1229 Centre Street
Newton, Massachusetts

restaurantpava.com

appetizers: $9-15
pizzas: $15
pastas: $22-24
entrees: $26-32
desserts: $10

glass of wine: $12-15

Pava swept me off my feet, but left my better-half cold and unmoved. While I was swooning over the ultra-cool, modern and sleek decor he was lamenting the fact that we had to eat our dinner in what amounted to a hallway in a parking garage. He was spot on about one thing - all those hard surfaces made it very noisy. Pava is high-concept Italian served in what is supposed to be a relaxed and cool, but not at all fancy, room that is all polished concrete, smooth black counters and apple green chairs.

This place seems so fashion conscious that I was anticipating a cold shoulder from the hostess and wait staff - the briefest glance reveals I'm no fashionista. Here I found myself pleasantly surprised - everyone was warm, smiling and very helpful. As is my want, I made lots of special requests. I couldn't decide which pasta dish I wanted more so I asked if they could make me a half serving of each and they very graciously complied. Even my companion agreed wholeheartedly that the service was top-notch - although he said if he was paying $130 for dinner he'd like to see the wait-staff wearing something nicer than flip-flops.

I did get a little sticker shock when I looked over the wine choices. The cheapest glass was $12 which was hard to take considering I usually spend about $3 on a bottle. I know very little about Italian wines and hardly ever buy them so I took my servers suggestion of a $15 glass of Chianti and enjoyed it well enough... although I didn't ask for a second.

After we placed our order, a small dish of basil flavored olive oil was delivered along with a few small pieces of focaccia and a super thin and crispy fried bread that reminded me of pappidum but made with wheat flour rather than the standard Indian chickpea flour... it was addictive stuff - as thin and crisp as a potato chip, but the flavor of a good bread.

I had a truly fabulous starter from the "HOT" appetizer section: Brick Pressed Octopus with fresh cranberry beans. The little octopus was crispy and breaded on one side and perfectly cooked - meaty and tasty but not the least chewy - add to that a little dressed endive salad and the beans which looked a little dull, but were addictively tasty. This was a perfectly executed dish and so wonderful I had to ask for a little extra bread so I could mop up every drop of the sauce. My companion was underwelmed by his Golden Beet Carpaccio with chever and endive - it was good, but nothing to stand up and cheer about.

According to me the pasta dishes were out of this world. The gnocchi were light as air, as they should be, and served with cooked radishes - which was a first for me - and a wonderfully buttery horseradish breadcrumb topping which somehow managed to be rich and deliver a kick simultaneously... it was delicious and interesting and I loved it. Across the table, my friend found it a little too challenging - too bitter to his taste. The other pasta was paper thing papparedelle - long wide noodles that were obviously home-made in a thin sauce flavored with fresh thyme and tossed with sauted spinach and shredded duck confit. It came in second to the amazing gnocchi, but still made a good showing and again I had to ask for a few more pieces of bread to mop up the last drops of sauce.

My companion ordered a pizza which was dotted with smoked tomatoes and house-made pepperoni. The tomatoes were amazing - sweet and smoky and the pepperoni was good, but not peppery enough for us. Saddly the pizza had an unpleastantly burnt flavor despite the fact that the bottom of the crust was not burnt - we checked.

True confession: I've sampled every dessert on the current menu and they are all amazing - with some being absolutely fabulous. The Lemon Tart is a marvel of lemony-ness. The Rainier Cherry Pavlova tremendous - the meringue base subtley flavored with hazelnut and filled with a warm banana diplomat cream - the cherries on top were delicious but the underpinnings stole the show. The chocolate sorbet that came one side with the genoise was another scene-stealer... if all sorbet was this good no-one would miss ice cream.

I think Pava is a love-it or hate-it experience. This is no cheap-eats destination and many may not like the look and feel of the dining room, but for the adventurous eater it certainly provides a memorable meal and a great deal of dining excitement.

Final Rating: 1 Thumbs-Up