Nettle Fettucini

Pronto Pasta San Rafael

I often go to Pronto Pasta, close to my work, for lunch. The Italian chef owner is friendly and sometimes gives us free appetizers of cheese or ham. The food is generally very good but it can be hit or miss. Today was a miss day. I ordered a special: Homemade nettle fettucine with duck, goat cheese and mushrooms. The grass-green fettucine was perfectly cooked, al dente, without the nettles overpowering the flavour as I wondered if they might. The duck was so tender that it had the texture of jello rather than meat which caused me to be wary of it. There was no visual evidence of the goats cheese but I assume it was an ingredient of the watery sauce that was so overpowered by the inclusion of chillis that the flavour of the tomatoes, shitakes and the mushy duck was completely lost. A garnish of 'too salty' olives did nothing to improve or save the dish from miserable failure.