We actually just tried this last week! It’s been around for a while right?
We didn’t go for any appetizers, but found the pizza was the standout - closest style that comes to mind are the pizzas Che fico alimentari does - really great flavor on the dough.
We haven’t tried their pizza but based on the quality of the other dishes I would expect it to be quite good
Thanks for putting this on my radar! I live in San Mateo County.
Donato in Redwood City is legit.
Donato Enoteca is good (but wish they would change their menu from time to time) but not on the same level as Pausa
If that’s your notion of what Italian cooking should be, sure. To me Pausa’s plates all have too many ingredients.
You seem to have a very narrow view what (Italian) cooking might be which has little to do with reality. In addition, cooking in every country in constantly evolving and Pausa wouldn’t be out of place in some Italian city. And, none of the dishes had more ingredients than dishes at for example places like Osteria Mozza
The vast majority of Italian cooking in Italy is traditional, based on quality, simplicity, and maximizing the flavor of one or two main ingredients. There are places with French / international influence in big cities but the cooking of the country as a whole certainly isn’t evolving in that direction.
Mozza’s food sticks pretty closely to tradition. I’ve never had anything complicated there.
As I said Pausa dishes aren’t more complex than Osteria Mozza and are very much along the lines what you would get in restaurants in Italy
You can say what you like but I’ve eaten at Mozza enough to state categorically that you’re wrong.
If you pick any restaurant in Italy at random chances are about 1 in 100 that it will serve complicated “creative” food.
I am wrong about what - that Mozza and Pausa aren’t typical Italian ?
Osteria Mozza’s primi, secondi, and contorni are way closer to what you’d get in 99% of the restaurants in Italy.
Mozza: ricotta & egg raviolo with browned butter
Pausa: buckwheat butcher’s ravioli, filled with pork, beef, sheep ricotta & fava leaves, beef demi-glace, green garlic foam, fava beans, pecorino romano, leek ash
Mozza: gnocchi with duck ragù
Pausa: sheep ricotta tuscan gnocchi, crumbled pork coppa, pickled rhubarb & gastrique, peas, pecorino romano
Mozza: grilled beef tagliata with rucola, Parmigiano Reggiano and aceto balsamico
Pausa: wagyu beef zabuton, 48 hour slow-cooked, cannellini beans, cicerchie, pickled leeks, mint & pistachio pesto
When were you the last time at Pausa and actually tasted any dishes ?
The ridiculous menu aside (“dungeness crab, pear & sunchoke puree, apple cider vinaigrette, almonds, green apple & celery gele, passion fruit, salmon roe”), on the rare occasions I’m eating around San Mateo it’s sushi, regional Chinese, or some other cuisine they do better than the East Bay does.
Actually their salumi and cheese selections look first-rate. Total contrast to the Top Chef sent-home-for-using-too-many-ingredents insanity of the rest of the menu.
So you confirming that you are talking about a restaurant you don’t know anything about and showing again that you are just trying to say anything in a discussion without any substantial input/background (There is a reason why people are making jokes about you on Hungry Onion)
There’s nothing wrong with liking that kind of complicated “creative” food. Seems like lots of people do or there wouldn’t be restaurants making it. But when you say it’s on a higher level than a restaurant that serves real Italian food, I call bullshit.
Obviously I’m not going to persuade you that your notions about Italian food have no basis in reality, and you’re not going to convince me to stop being an intolerant snob about Italian food, so feel free to have the last word.
It is hard to take somebody serious who hasn’t obviously not tried anything described and just wanted to write something without background knowledge- The typical problem of armchair coaches
Another great visit to Pausa in San Mateo. Creative, well executed Italian cuisine with an outstanding charcuterie program, excellent pasta and entrees, playful desserts and good cocktails. And made perfect by professional, yet very relaxed service which doesn’t rush anybody.
Another visit to Pausa https://www.pausasanmateo.com/ in San Mateo - still one of the best Italian restaurants on the Peninsula and on the same level as many well known places in the city. The charcuterie plate is still one of the best anywhere
Another great dinner at https://www.pausasanmateo.com/ in San Mateo
