Restaurant: Uovo
Location: 1320 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 425-0064
Date: August 26, 2017
Cuisine: Italian Pasta
Rating: Very good classic Italian pastas
Uovo is an interesting new concept from at least one of the Sugarfish owners — but instead of over-ponzued sushi, it’s classic Italian pasta. Uovo means egg in Italian (used in the pasta).
Just across 2nd street from the Sugarfish in Santa Monica — 2nd street is being taken over by fast concepts.
The decor is a lot like Sugarfish, small, modern, mixing bar and tables.
Lots of pasta bar.
Look at the hyper focused menu. Just pasta. A couple veggies. No salads. Nothing else at all. No desserts even!
There is a bunch of song and dance about the pasta being made in Bologna. Truth is, they are right about the eggs for the most part. Italian eggs are fabulous and along with the flour and olive oil are key to great pasta. You can get some similar eggs here, but they are very pricy organic fertile eggs.
There are a few very simple wines and beers. All by the glass. Sugarfish has always been minimalist on the beverages.
Tortellini Crema di Parmigiano. Handmade tortellini in cream of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Butter/cream/parm sauce. Very simple but nice tortellini. There was pepper in the stuffing too as their should be. Extremely simple flavor, and rich, but very well done.
Tonnarelli al Pomodoro. Imported tomatoes & 24-month-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. My 8 year-old loved it.
Ravioli di Ricotta. Ricotta ravioli in pomodoro sauce. Simple also, very soft ravioli — they could have been more al dente.
Tonnarelli all’Amatriciana. Imported tomatoes, pecorino, onion, guanciale & red chili pepper. I prefer the more traditional tubular pasta shape with all’Amatriciana but the sauce was excellent and the guanciale crispy.
Lasagna Verde. Meat lasagna made with green pasta. Rich creamy/nutty sauce. A nice baked lasagne.
Service was slightly confused for being a few days open, but very attentive and nice. Dishes came out one by one. 16% tip (taxed too) is included. This is hyper focused both in menu and service. It didn’t take long and it was certainly fine.
Pasta was very solid. It’s not as good as Felix, and certainly way less adult. Very “classic” Italian, like you’d get at an old fashioned Italian restaurant in Italy. Fairly limited set of noodles and flavor profiles. Not much in the the way of actual vegetables in the dishes and pretty focused on cheese and simple meats. Lots of red sauce. No sausage. No Pesto. No guazetto. No walnut sauce. All very traditional pasta types not included. They can of course add them later but these are fairly tailored to appeal to really straight up American tastes while being drawn from a classic Italian playbook.
For me, a good spot for a quick pasta lunch or a very casual family dinner with the kids. Don’t bring more than 4 people. Uovo doesn’t take reservations and you pay at the counter (after your meal, it is full service more or less).
There was already a line by 5:30pm.
There was no dessert so we walked down to the Promenade.
Ok but not great gelato at the Promenade kiosk.
Light milk chocolate and hazelnut.