Mid Rivers Newsmagazine Pasta Bowl Review

Mid Rivers Newsmagazine is St. Charles County's exclusive direct-mailed community newspaper.

Restaurant Spotlight Archive

Pasta Bowl

By Mary Ann O'Toole Holley

Maybe it’s the look in his eyes when he talks about his business; maybe it’s the way your mouth waters when he talks about his food.

Chef Moe Alhussein, owner and operator of St. Peters’ newest “must-patronize” Italian restaurant, has a passion for quality like few others and a desire to please patrons that’s akin to a mother’s love.

Its name is plain and simple: The Pasta Bowl.

It’s understated and elegant, but make no mistake. The Pasta Bowl is eons away from a batch of semolina and a pot of boiling water. The Pasta Bowl is overflowing with panache.

“The rush of a new restaurant; the responsibility of doing it well… That’s what makes me do my best,” Alhussein said. “Owning a new restaurant is a huge responsibility, but for me, quality is non-negotiable. I personally will not sacrifice the quality of my food.”

With its Italian travertine tiles and walls in warm shades of rust, light contemporary music by Sting plays softly in The Pasta Bowl’s inviting environment. An open stainless steel kitchen invites a quick peek, and Alhussein urges customers to watch as their food is prepared.

“I wanted a menu with sophisticated ingredients that is as high profile as a big chain but with more affordable selections,” Alhussein said. “And I didn’t want to hide a thing.”

After more than 25 years in Iowa as co-owner in his extended family’s string of a highly-rated Italian restaurants, Alhussein, his wife and three children moved to the St. Louis area so their 9-year-old son could benefit from specialized schooling for the deaf.

Alhussein knew that picking up and starting over wouldn’t be easy, but, he says, “children are a blessing, and you must do your best for them. The change of it all… It makes me all the more determined.”

Alhussein says with The Pasta Bowl comes a “new breed” of restaurants for the Alhussein family, one far more casual than the family’s predecessors, but equally as flavorful with its full line of foods from appetizers to pasta to exotic salads to hot panninis and wraps.

Sauces, bread, lasagna, pizza, cannelloni and more are all made by hand with Alhussein at the helm. With the help of his own extended family, including his brother, Moe Jr., his nephew, Sean, and a stretch of dedicated staff, the family of The Pasta Bowl strives to create a dining experience that makes everyone a “special guest.”

Specialties include: Chicken Cannelloni with delicately hand-rolled pasta stuffed with roasted chicken, spinach, five types of cheese and baked in a tomato cream sauce ($5 lunch/$7.99 dinner); Farfalle Pollo featuring bowtie pasta with grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, mushroom, pine nuts and parmesan cheese in a roasted cream sauce ($5.99 lunch/$7.99 dinner); Baked Penne Rustica, an assembly of penne pasta, grilled chicken, hard salami and freshly ground parmesan cheese baked in a roasted cream sauce ($5.99 lunch/$7.99 dinner); and one a perennially popular Trio Italiano enticing appetites with lasagna, chicken cannelloni and chicken parmigiano ($9.99).

Oh, and for dessert, Alhussein creates his own special cannoli (tubular pastry shells stuffed with a sweetened filling of whipped ricotta, nuts and bits of chocolate) and tiramisu (an Italian dessert with coffee and liquor-soaked layers of sponge cake alternating with mascarpone cheese and chocolate).

The Pasta Bowl also offers a tried and true children’s menu, created by Alhussein’s two older children, (the 5-month old still prefers formula).

“Customers are smart, educated enough to know when they’re getting freshly made, quality foods,” Alhussein said. “Our food is made with devotion, passion and love, and it seems to be paying off.”

Since opening just over a month ago, more than 80 percent of The Pasta Bowl’s customers are repeat customers.

“Everything from the temperature of the room to the level of quality in everything we do… We try our best not only with food, but to make each visit enjoyable and memorable,” Alhussein said. “I know we are on the right track.”

The Pasta Bowl

318 D Mid Rivers Mall Dr. (across from Red Robin)

St. Peters, MO

Dine-in or carry-out

Free wireless Internet is provided onsite.

Call 636-278-TO GO (8646)

Hours:

Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.