Create your dinner -- just don't cook it yourself

Posted by Dana McMahan on April 4, 2008 My little food secret is that sometimes I eat -- on purpose -- at a chain restaurant. My guilty pleasure? Romano's Macaroni Grill. Maybe it's the crayons on the table, or the back-to-elementary school fun of filling in my pasta order pad, or maybe it's the warm, fragrant bread loaves you can freely drench in olive oil as you play hangman on the white paper table cover, but something about this faux Italy restaurant keeps me coming back. On a mizzly chilly night tonight we carbed out at Macaroni Grill.

I've never ordered from the menu. Instead I ask for the "create your own pasta" order pad, and go through the options, coloring the circles next to my choice. First you pick your sauce -- I always go for tomato cream (though the pesto always tempts me). Tonight, however, their new order pad no longer listed tomato cream as an option. It pays to ask because I learned it's still available, just not on that menu anymore. I'm in the know now with my Macaroni Grill lingo and will just jot TC on the order pad next time.

Next you choose some extra-charge toppings, selecting from the $2-$3 likes of buffalo mozzarella and sliced Italian chicken. (I always add the mozzarella) Then you pick three included toppings from an assortment of vegetables and other goodies like pine nuts and roasted garlic cloves. I spend the most time on my decision here, debating between asparagus, pine nuts and spinach or roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes and artichokes.

Finally you pick your pasta -- the noodle that is -- from seven shapes plus one whole wheat option. I alternte between the penne and the bowtie.

Then you munch on the magically disappearing bread (you'll be amazed how fast two people can consume an entire loaf) and drink some of the house wine in a tumbler and wait for your several-pound bowl of pasta to arrive.

They've mixed things up a bit with their custom pasta dinners, adding some more proteins (oddly, they actually call them proteins, though they don't call their pastas carbs or the sauces fats) and some "gourmet" toppings. I tried the pescatora -- a shrimp, small scallop and lump crabmeat mixture. It's a $5 upcharge on the $8.99 dinner. It's actually quite a generous portion of seafood -- much more generous than the three or four slivers of asparagus in my dish.

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner and took home enough leftovers for at least one other meal.

TAGS: Eating Out, Macaroni Grill, Pasta, Restaurant, Seafood
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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1. 1

   Barbara said:

   But that "olive oil" sludge they serve sprinkled with 'spices' in a pathetic attmept to mask the horrible taste...or lack thereof, is the one thing that REALLY turns me off about Romano's Macaroni Grill! Italian restaurants should serve wonderful olive oil!!!

   Posted at 06:57 AM, on April 5 2008

1. 2

   Dana McMahan said:

   If I compared the food in "Italian" restaurants at home to the food I've had in Italy I'd never set foot in a restaurant here, so I just consider it American restaurant food and give them a break. Waiters in Italy also don't say, "Hey guys, my name's Keith and I'm going to be taking care of you, all right?" ;)

   I used to go to an "Italian" restaurant in another city and after the 4th or 5th time the waiter told me that olive oil and spice mix was Italian butter I finally couldn't bite my tongue and gave him a lesson about the bread in restaurants in Italy. I'm sure he was thrilled to be the recipient of my little lecture.

   Posted at 08:08 AM, on April 5 2008

1. 3

   Brenda Bowling said:

   At least the olive oil is healthier than spreading margerine on the bread

   Posted at 07:55 PM, on April 8 2008

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