Inpasta brings more Italian to Lemon Grove

How much does Lemon Grove like Italian food? The answer may be forthcoming, as a new restaurant and market has set up shop in the neighborhood. Inpasta Artisan Pasta and Pizza opened this month a mere block from a similar restaurant, Giardino Neighborhood Cucina, both just a mile down Broadway from local institution, Lido’s Italian Foods.

For what it’s worth, Lido’s is a decidedly old school, American-Italian restaurant, while the two newer eateries hew closer to the contemporary style of Italian restaurants that have cropped up all over city neighborhoods in recent years. Think Ciccia Osteria, Cori Pastificio, Rusticucina, Casarina, Siamo Napoli — wow, we’re not even halfway through the list! Best we move on.

Giardino comes recommended as a dinner and happy hour spot, but what might give Inpasta the edge at the moment is, in addition to a spacious dining room and patio, a large portion of its stand-alone storefront is given to a market offering stuff like imported pastas, canned tomatoes, canned artichokes, olive oils, and flours including Caputo, a century-old brand famously used in handmade pizza doughs. Not necessarily small packages, either: we’re talking 3-liter cans tomatoes, olive oil, and artichoke hearts, and 55-pound bags of flour.

Don’t worry, smaller sizes are available for those of us who don’t need to supply Italian meals seven days a week. The market furnishes fresh, housemade pasta in addition to imported shapes, offers pizza by the slice, and sells simple grab and go sandwiches, featuring he likes of prosciutto and arugula. Best of all – depending who you ask — is the cashier line culminates at a well-stocked gelato case.

There’s a lot going on, here, so I should probably take a moment to point out that a restaurant kitchen and dining room really do constitute most of the real estate here. Inpasta’s styled a little more on the casual side than the charming Giardino — there are a couple of mounted televisions, for example, and a self-service water station. And Inpasta’s entrees tend to cost 3 to 4 bucks less, whether it’s pizza, pasta, or plated proteins.

The texture of its Neapolitan style pizza crust wowed me the most, and the $14 pepperoni impressed the kids as well — they wanted it to be larger than its roughly 12-inch diameter. By contrast, the $15 spinach and ricotta calzone was plenty big enough, and we counted six layers of pasta in a lasagna baked in a pretty right-on Bolognese ($19). Simplicity makes this place go — even my sausage and broccoli rabe orecchiette (ear-shaped) was dressed with little more than crushed tomato and olive oil.

The home-made pasta itself was pretty satisfying, though not quite to the levels of some of the aforementioned Italian spots in neighborhoods closer to downtown. But in Lemon Grove I have to think Giardino feels the heat with its new neighbor. My bet is Giardino remains a date-night favorite, while Inpasta appeals more to families. Certainly the gelato counter proved popular with a crowd of kids on a Sunday afternoon.

Or, maybe both restaurants thrive in a community that can’t get enough Italian. Every San Diego neighborhoods supports multiple taco shops, I suppose there’s always room for more pasta.