BAGELS Baked In House Daily
by Todd SouTh
BAGELS- Baked In House Daily Serving Bagels, Bagel Sandwiches, Real Fruit Smoothies, Espresso, Locally Roasted Coffee and Teas
CALL US: 775-786-1611 www.thedailybagelreno.com
Open
Tuesday-Friday: 6:30am to 2pm Saturday-Sunday: 8am to 2pm
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495 MORRILL AVe #102 RenO, nV 89512
Hit the sauce
owner Christopher Schiavone at the front counter with healthy servings of rigatoni and chicken Marsala. PHOTO/ALLISON YOUNG
sauce can be bland—or, worse, it might be too boozy and spicy. This was one of the best seasoned, well-balanced iterations I’ve tasted. The meatball was tasty but seemed Toni Rigatonis fits the term “bistro” to a a little small for the money. The pesto was T. With seating for perhaps 20 to 25 in a several steps beyond average. The spinach boxcar of a dining room, there isn’t much worked very well with the other ingrediseparation from other patrons. Take-out ents, and the walnut flavor really came might be your best bet, but call well ahead through satisfyingly. because the brand new staff are cheerfully I broke with tradition and chose penne struggling to keep up with demand—and pasta and a sausage link in puttanesca with good reason. sauce. The sauce is a recipe that originated A complimentary bowl of uninspired sometime in the mid-20th century as garlic bread appeared, giving us pause. spaghetti alla puttanesca, which basically The bread had the flavor and texture of a translates to “spaghetti in the style of a toasted hamburger bun. They didn’t skimp prostitute.” This puttanesca sauce was a on butter, and I longed for more garlic and feisty one, with strong, briny ingredients herb flavor. It took quite a while before one tempered by sweet tomato and rounded of several servers returned to take our order. out by a surprisingly spicy finish. By their I’m guessing they’re still in training mode. purple color I’d say Italian gaeta olives—or Following a 30-minute wait, we something similar—were used. The sliced, received a house salad ($3 when ordered mild Italian sausage link punctuated the with an entree) and a healthy serving of dish, a perfect supporting partner to the deep-fried calamari ($12). The salad was more aggressive flavors. ample, and the vinaiWe completed the grette was very light, meal with an order perfect for a summer 1610 Robb Drive, 775-686-6237 of chicken Marsala evening. The calamari Toni Rigatonis is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday ($16)—two breaded was very tender with to Wednesday and Friday to Sunday and closed chicken cutlets covered a crispy, seasoned Thursdays. in sauteed mushroom breadcrumb coating, slices and served with a served with a very good side of linguine featuring plenty of Marsala housemade marinara. wine sauce. The chicken was expertly We waited another 40 minutes for the prepared—very moist and tender—and rest of our order. Perhaps they’re trying to the sauce was subtle and refined. All of build suspense? We were relieved when our the sauces we tasted were above-average, food arrived and even happier as we started allowing us to forgive and forget the service munching. Rigatonis offers $10 bowls with stumbles. The chef ought to consider jarring a choice of pasta and sauce, including some and selling his sauces over the counter. gravies I wouldn’t have expected from a They were sold out of tiramisu, so we small operation serving “Italian-American shared a cannoli cone ($5) for dessert. An soul food, made fresh every day.” You can ice cream cone was stuffed with filling— add a sausage link ($3), a chicken cutlet set atop another scoop of filling—and ($4) or a meatball ($2). My wife ordered drizzled in Nutella. I thought it was OK, rigatoni with a meatball and vodka sauce. and I’m guessing kids and Nutella-crazed We also ordered a bowl of fettuccine with millennials would love it. We’ll definitely pesto to share because it sounded so good. be back. Ω Plenty of vodka sauce coated large rigatoni in silky decadence. Sometimes vodka
Toni Rigatonis
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RN&R
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07.07.16
