From Food to Decor, It’s All in Good Taste

By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
July 9, 1995

Pasta Cucina
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 5-11 p.m.; Friday, 5 p.m.-midnight; Saturday, 4 p.m.-midnight; Sunday, 4-11 p.m.Lunch served Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Phone: (312) 248-8200I had passed by Pasta Cucina many times on my way to the Three Penny Theatre. But because I was always late, I never stepped in until a friend told me that the food there was out of this world.

She was absolutely right. The freshly made pastas are as tasty as the decor is tasteful.

“I can’t t take credit for the decorating,” owner/chef Rick Shorr said. “This design team literally walked in off the street and had some great ideas for the place. So I said go ahead and do a mural. I liked it, so they did another and then anotther.”

Kennedy Designs created the witty decor, which includes painted pillars on which wall lamps “rest,” lovely flowers painted on the walls, and the walls themselves, which are painted to look like raw bricks. There are framed black and white photographs sprinkled throughout the cozy eatery, which  bypasses gaudy colors for classic shades of soothing grays and blacks. There is a small TV above the bar that I have never seen on. And a tiny ceramic model of Pasta Cucina is mounted on the wall near the entranceway.

While Kennedy Designs set the aesthetic mood for the restaurant, Shorr’s culinary skills are responsible for the simple but eclectic menu. Diners can choose from a variety of pastas, mixing and matching flavors and shapes. One night I had spinach fettucine with veggie marinara sauce ($8.95).  A friend had tomato basil rotini with
sauteed spinach sauce ($9.50). Both were equally delicious, and the servings were generous enough so that we both had leftovers to take home. (Dinner entrees come with your choice of soup or salad.)

Pasta Cucina also gives new meaning to the phrase “dinner and a movie.” Diners who would like to see a flick at the nearby Three Penny can buy $1 tickets for that evening’s shows with the purchase of dinner.

“I love that everything’s so affordable here,” said Todd Cherer, munching on artichoke hearts cellini ($5.50). “I came here for the first time when a friend and I were killing time before going to the Three Penny. We ended up having the best meal of our lives and getting movie tickets, so everything worked out perfectly.”

The four-year-old restaurant seats 45 inside and 50 outside on the patio, which is lined with a fragrant herb garden.

A note of caution: There are two small washrooms that are not gender–specific. Each says “da toletta” on the door, so don’t get confused.