Affordable Pastabilities Make First-Class Meals at Pasta Presto

In a perfect world, we would eat all the time at expensive Italian restaurants where tuxedoed waiters grate golden Parmigiano-Reggiano on our pasta that’s perfectly peppered with sun-dried tomatoes and herbs culled from the kitchen’s private garden.

HELLO!

The world is not perfect and a recession that whips us like a spiteful Santa Ana wind is not blowing away. The wealthy and the working are wisely looking for ways to shave expenses while still enjoying the flavor of first class.

Pasta Presto in Tustin offers cheap, quick pasta that will impress Gold Card diners and delight life-on-a-shoestringers.

The original thought behind seven-month-old Pasta Presto was to deliver “homemade” meals to hungry people at home. Every day, hundreds who live near the restaurant receive their pasta this way but many more drive to the little eatery and dine inside the bright, light, tight area that surrounds the open kitchen. Or they grab it to go.

The most popular dishes are angel hair doused with a marinara sauce made of snappy tomatoes, snorty garlic and fragrant basil, and the fettuccine drowning in a rich cream/butter/Romano cheese Alfredo sauce, or a combo of the two sauces, dubbed the “Almara.”

All the pastas are made fresh in the kitchen and the simple, tasteful sauces are created without salt or preservatives.

There are just under 20 hot and cold “pastabilities” and four kinds of cheesy ravioli (marinara, primavera, pesto and Bolognese) on the menu. All are available in overly generous one-pound servings ($3.95 to $6.95) or platter-size portions that satisfy a yelping family of four to six ($14.95 to $25.95).

The best buy is the combo--a half-order of cold pasta, such as the tangy lemon crab linguine, and a half order of Caesar salad--for $5.50. The Caesar bites back with a lethal, egg-free, anchovy-paste-laden dressing.

Wine, beer and desserts are available.

The new “Pastaholics Club” encourages serious gluttony. Buy six meals and get one free. Inexpensive (and sometimes free) fine food served by a friendly T-shirted staff in an inviting environment sounds like the perfect antidote for our imperfect times.

Pasta Presto, 13662 Newport Ave., Music Plus Plaza, Tustin. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. (714) 730-3900.