THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9408300190
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Sam Martinette
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
``A rose is a rose is a rose,'' wrote Gertrude Stein many years ago. It was, I suppose, the lady's oblique way of saying call it what you like, it's still a rose.
In the case of the Pasta Grande restaurant in the Norfolk Airport Hilton, grande means big, and that's what you get: a large serving of well-prepared pasta when you choose from the house specials. You can select a sauce from a list including a traditional red sauce, marinara, meat and mushroom or mushroom sauce, an olive oil and garlic, or a clam sauce.
I recently dined there with a party of eight and our table resounded with a chorus of exclamations at the size of the meals coming out, heaping servings of veal marsala aside a mountain of pasta, a squadron of shrimp, scallop and clams draped over a continent of angel hair pasta, a Roman legion of ravioli in a marinara sauce, in short, more food than anyone could eat at one meal.
``I sometimes come out on a Friday or Saturday night and there will be all of these take-home boxes labeled with table numbers up along the counters,'' said executive chef Bill Kaylor, laughing. He joined the Hilton four months ago after several years at the Radisson in Hampton. ``The motto of the place is the bigger the better.''
Kaylor oversees the food in Antiquities, where maitre 'd Earl Branch presides; at Le Promenade, the restaurant serving three meals a day, every day of the year, aimed at hotel guests; and at the Orient Express, which offers an inexpensive buffet and some wild karaoke entertainment, about which I'll say more another time. Kaylor credits chef Larry Lucas, who has been at Pasta Grande almost since its inception two years ago, with its success.
``Larry is Pasta Grande,'' Kaylor said. ``He fixes each dish himself. On Friday and Saturday nights he may call for help, but he has to be buried pretty bad to ask.'' Lucas is a local with more than 20 years of experience at both the Ships Cabin and the old Island House Restaurant in Virginia Beach.
As for the menu, it offers such appetizers as fried calamari ($4.95) and baby baked artichokes rolled in seasoned bread crumbs and baked with garlic butter and parmesan cheese ($5.95). There is a Greek salad ($5.95) and Seared Tuna Carpaccio (fresh tuna rolled in cracked pepper, pan-seared, then chilled and served on fresh greens - $5.95). Pizzas include a shrimp and scallop pie with mushrooms and a marinara sauce ($8.95), and a garden pizza topped with grilled garden vegetables ($7.95).
As for the entrees, or house specialties, Pasta Grande offers the Seafood Medley, the chef's choice of fresh seafood sauteed with garlic, olive oil, mushrooms and red peppers, served over angel hair pasta ($16.95). I chose a white clam sauce and received a dish brimming with shrimp, scallops, clams in the shell and more, and so much pasta even I had to ask for a box.
Others tried the veal marsala ($16.95) and the veal valdostana (veal covered with pan-fried garden tomatoes, garlic and mozzarella cheese and served with a marinara sauce - $15.95). The white lasagna features fresh seafood, four white cheeses, and a nutmeg cream sauce ($14.95), while the chicken rollatine consists of boneless breast of chicken stuffed with spinach and a herbed ricotta cheese, sauteed with mushrooms and onions in a light tomato cream sauce ($13.95).
You'll find baked manicotti ($11.95), a traditional lasagna ($11.95), canneloni ($11.95), and linguini with Italian sausage and peppers ($12.95), as well as ``Spaghetti by Mom'' (sausage or meatballs in a traditional red sauce - $10.95).
The Grande Homestyle Feast ($15.95 per person) offers Mom's spaghetti with manicotti, white lasagna and chicken parmigiana, along with salad and bread in an all you can eat setting. MEMO: AT A GLANCE
Pasta Grande: Norfolk Airport Hilton, 466-8000.
Food: Southern Italian, full ABC.
Prices: pizza $7 to $9; entrees $9.95 - $16.95
Hours: 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Larry Lucas, left, and Bill Kaylor offer grand dishes at Pasta
Grande.
by CNB