Navio and Pasta Moon in Half Moon Bay
This past Sun. and Mon. we celebrated our 29th anniversary in Half Moon Bay. Our lunch at Pasta Moon in downtown HMB was incredible. The dining room is intimate with a formal-elegance feel to it. I had the Arugula Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and Fresh Persimmions and the Papradelle Pasta with Porcini Mushrooms which was rich and wonderful. Everything at Pasta Moon is farm to table fresh. A true gem in downtown Half Moon Bay.
For our dinner we chose Navio @ the Ritz-Carlton where we stayed. The tasting menu was excellent, plate after plate of perfection. I especially loved the Pumpkin Soup and the Sea Scallops. Our meal was over two hours of dining pleasure with very professional service. We brought in a bottle of 2007 Archery Summit Pinot Noir to complement our dinner. This was our first to time to Half Moon Bay and we found two wonderful places to dine in this area. The Ritz-Carlton was over the top amazing, also. :)
-----
Pasta Moon
315 Main St., Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
-
-
MSK
Apr 5, 2011 03:51 PM
I have to concur with this review whole-heartedly. We were staying just 1 night at the Ritz HMB on a Mon. night when Navio was closed. We were disappointing as we believed that what we have seen of HMB from our years of traveling back and forth to Santa Cruz on Rt 1 was all that the town had to offer and was not promising. We thought our only options were Strip malls and seafood shacks
First, we were thrilled to find the lovely downtown area of Main St. with cafe's and cute shops. Pasta Moon was recommended and is a wonderful local find.
The Chef takes risks in the menu development. Lots of interesting and unusual combinations and choices. Even the traditional Italian dishes were handled in a unique and flavorful fashion.
The roasted brussel sprout salad was listed as antipasti rather than insalata. Even though we had had 3 nights of brussel sprouts prior we chose it based on the interesting ingredient combination: butternut squash, pancetta, baby cannellini beans, frisée, aged white balsamic vinegar and EVOO. They split the dish in the kitchen and each plate seemed like enough for a full single sized portion. The brussel sprouts and small butternut squash cubes were cooked but with just a bit of bite but interestingly served ice cold. The flavor was heaven!!
My SO ordered the spaghetti putanesca - day boat sea scallops, calamari, clams, mussels, spicy tomato sause, oil cured olives and capers, and lemon. which worked out to flavorful mix between a Tutto Mare, an Arrabiata and a putanesca. Just wonderful!!
I chose the tagliatelle bolognese - milk braised ground pork, beef, pancetta, soffritto, tomato,rosemary, parmesan. For the amount of times I've had bolognese, not a single one was as unique as this. Rich but not too, the pork really stood out.
Surprisingly, the wine list had a larger percentage of higher priced wine that one would expect for the price point of the menu but we were able to find something within our range. I believe the Tiramisu was house made and offered a great finish to a wonderful dinner.
Portions were large and the service was attentive and friendly. This time we were staying in HMB but we may need to incorporate Pasta Moon into our itinerary when we travel from SF to SC. There were too many other items on the menu that we would be interested in trying.
-----
Pasta Moon
315 Main St., Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
