New trattoria on Broadway

Zhivago's piroshkis will fade further in our collective memory, once Pasta? opens its doors at 416 Broadway East this summer.  Pasta? arrives on Broadway, through the efforts of co-owners Francesco Angiuli and Gianni Chiloiro.  Angiuli may be a familiar name, since he previously worked as Director of Operations for Via Tribunali.  Chiloiro hails from California, where he owns a slew of restaurants including the long-running Pasta? Palo Alto, Pasta? Davis, and Pasta? Mountain View.  

Though Pasta? bills itself as a trattoria, a casual italian eatery,  Angiuli urged us to think of it as "a restaurant in every way, except there will be no white tablecloths".  Per its name, the focus of the menu will be on pastas but they will have a few meat dishes as well.  In addition, there will be a full service bar.  Pasta? on Broadway will be open 7 days a week and will serve both lunch and dinner.  Look for it to open in June, when hopefully they will have received a permit for outside seating.

For those curious about the name(the name invites curiosity), here's the story.  When Pasta? Palo Alto first opened back in 1997, Chiloiro and his fellow owners ran the restaurant without a name for several months, because  the first two names they tried "ran into trademark problems"--other restaurants already had those names. So, in a fit of both frustration and irony, they went with "Pasta?"