Heather and I sat at the funky, lit-up, striped bar and started with cocktails.  We were pleased to learn that Pasta Vino features house-made limoncello, so after asking for a taste, I ordered the West End Moustache- a cocktail with limoncello.  Heather went for a barrel-aged gin Last Word.  Two excellent choices.

West End Moustache

Barrel-aged Last Word

Pancetta wrapped scallops came next, followed by house made bread and a salad.  We also switched over to house white wine.

There’s something on the menu for everyone just as you’d expect at an Italian restaurant- salads, pizza, antipasti, pasta… and Pasta Vino features different specialty pastas each day. We were there on a Wednesday and had the choice of a spaghetti with prawns, a greens-filled ravioli, or vermicelli pasta with pancetta.

I tried the Bucatini and Heather went with the Ravioli. These were two more excellent choices we made that evening… (Maybe Heather and I are on to something here…) After a little freshly shaved parmesan we got to work on our pasta.

At this point, I must dare to say that the pasta at Pasta Vino was perfectly cooked.  My vermicelli dish was so delicious that, despite feeling full by the third bite or so, I finished the entire bowl of pasta.  Heather’s ravioli were also very well done.  The greens for the filling maintained their identity and weren’t some wet mushy mess, and the chef seemed to have finished the dish in the oven because there was a crispiness to the edges not often found on ravioli. After much talk of bringing home the leftovers, both plates were licked clean.

Overall, I highly recommend Pasta Vino and can’t wait to start featuring them on both cocktail and dining tours.  In the meantime, check them out and give their pasta a try.  I’m already eager to return for another taste of hand-crafted Italian food.

Pasta Vino

1043 Pearl Street, Boulder

303-955-8791

Check out the full list here: Yellow Scene Best of the West 2012

Walking Tours Get Tipsy

Cheers!

We started at Tahona Tequila Bistro for a flight of tequilas- blanco, reposado, and añejo, as well as a taste of a coin-style margarita made with the three different tequilas.

We then walked to Aji for some Latin American appetizers: ceviche, blue corn dusted calamari, an empanada, and a mojito.

Our third stop was The Pinyon for fried chicken (of course), trotters on a house-made english muffin (The Pinyon is the only place in town serving trotters, by the way), and some 48-hour brisket.  We sampled a couple beer cocktails while watching the esteemed chefs prepare each course.

Finally, we went to OAK at Fourteenth for a cocktail by Boulder’s illustrious Bryan Dayton, paired with a sample of their desserts.

As a tour guide, I must say that birthday tours are exceptionally fun. The group doesn’t just sit at one restaurant for a few hours- we progressively eat our way through town on a culinary exploration with friends.  Happy 21st!  I hope Local Table Tours made it memorable.

If you have been on a cocktail tour, I encourage you to register for another one.  They’re always different and always fun.  Here’s an idea of what we’ve tasted this month.  Cheers!

Caroline from West End Tavern knows her bourbon and can tell you everything she knows while offering sips of different spirits and samples of her signature cocktails, such as the Ron Burgundy (left) and an Old Fashioned (right).

Tahona has been a fun stop on some tours and we’ve been sampling a variety of blanco, reposado, and añejo tequilas.  If you have questions about the differences between blanco, reposado, and añejo, it’s probably time you join us on a cocktail tour…

Tina offered us a blanco Republic Tequila as well as some Republic that they had barrel aged in house into a reposado.

On a different tour, Ally offered us a tasting of Gran Centenario plata, reposado, and añejo as well as a tasting of her coin style margarita.

Connor at SALT treated us to a sweet creation of his, the Barry White and a classic- The Aviation.

The Pinyon was also a featured stop on a couple tours and we drank a Hops not Tonic (left), a beer cocktail created by Dan Mirsky, and a soda bottled cocktail with some dangerously good chicken wings.

Chef owner Theo Adley likes hanging at his own bar, so we’re often very well entertained at The Pinyon.

Boulder cocktail tours run every Thursday.  We visit 3 great local bars and get to ask the experts all of our cocktail questions.  It’s the best way to bar hop in town.

Chef owner Steve Redzikowski and libations expert and owner Bryan Dayton orchestrate a food and drink symphony that is each time equally perfect yet uniquely different. Pictures may say thousands of words, and they’ll hopefully tempt you to be treated to an almost fantastical culinary experience.

Check out these larger photos of Bryan Dayton playing with an ice ball he set on fire as he perfected the ice “cube” for a cocktail at our table.

OAK at Fourteenth- 303.444.3622

1400 Pearl Street, Boulder CO, 80302

Photos courtesy of Giovanni Castillo.

http://www.thrillist.com/DEN/video/2357987