Pasta China offers hearty ‘Ciao, Mein!’
According to legend, explorer Marco Polo first brought pasta to Italy, from China, in the 13th century.
Pasta China, 2595 E. Craig Road, North Las Vegas, brings it back. This truly distinctive fast-food joint (pronounced Chee-na, as they do in Italy) sautes its shrimp broccoli in olive oil, garlic and butter, and wraps its egg rolls with pepperoni and sausage.
"A lot of people look at the name and come in and go, 'Wow, what is this?' " says co-owner Rich Young. "I think people get tired of the same old stuff."
Young owned and operated three Chinese restaurants in San Diego.
"But I wanted to do something very different," he says. "You can go to any Chinese restaurant and get chicken in black bean sauce.
"I pan-fry angel hair and mix it in."
The decor is similarly fused, commingling Venetian masks and statues with Chinese fans and umbrellas.
Young, who moved to the valley last year to take advantage of low storefront leases and housing prices, opened his dream on the site of a former Mi Casita restaurant last month.
"Everything here is my own creation," he says, taking particular pride in the dish bearing his restaurant's name. (Pasta China stir-fries Italian spaghetti with Chinese sausage, barbecued pork and Chinese chicken and veggies.)
And how can anybody hate the prices? No entree is more than $6.
Pasta China, which seats 40, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Reservations are not required.
Starters: Chicken & shrimp puff, $1; General Tsao's chicken wings, $3; pepperoni & sausage egg roll, $1
Salads: Chicken cucumber salad, $3; Chinese chicken salad, $3
Entrees: Ying yang, $6; Szechuan Angel, $5; Pasta China, $4
Desserts: Egg roll cannoli, $1; honey-cinammon butterfly, $1
Information: 633-6404
