Restaurant Review: The Great Impasta - It's Real, and It's Spectacular (Sort Of)

Well, sort of. It certainly isn't an imposter. Though, it's not "spectacular," The Great Impasta is a pretty good restaurant. It's is a fun place to have some pretty good Italian food in the heart of downtown Champaign. The place has a lot of flexibility. I'll stop in there on my own for a late dinner and want to snack at the bar if I want to treat myself, or use it as one of my regular date places. The ambience is solid - fun wall murals, interesting lighting, though when it's busy, the place can be a little loud. But overall, it's a good experience for dinner. I have to confess that I've never eaten there for lunch. That may change, though I would probably order the same stuff, so who knows if that even matters for me.

This restaurant has a number of the things that this place has going for it. The first is fresh pasta. Not everything is made in-house. The stuffed pastas (tortellini, ravioli, etc.) are bought, but they make their own noodles. And they're tasty. There's a very different mouthfeel to fresh pasta, when compared to the dried. I think that it tastes a little heartier. I don't have a strong preference for the fresh pasta, but I enjoy the change of pace when it's there.

My personal preference is one of the two lasagnas that they serve - the seafood lasagna which layers spinach noodles with cheese, shrimp, scallops, and crab, and tops it off with bechamel (white sauce), and the traditional, which uses ricotta, beef and pork, and has both the tomato and bechamel sauce. Other solid dishes include the Papa Piero's Chicken, which is sauteed chicken in a garlic cream sauce, over fettuccine, and the Mardi Gras Pasta, which has chicken, shrimp, and smoked sausage in a creamy, spicy cajun sauce.

And another highlight is the service, which has generally been solid every time that I've been there, with a few instances of genuinely excellent service. The servers are knowledgable about the food, do a good job of bringing drink refills (and bread refills!). And when I am just parking it at the bar for a solo dinner, the bartenders have always been friendly and have made good company.

But that's not to say that The Great Impasta has it all figured out. Maybe there's not enough demand for it, but I'm a little dismayed that there's no risotto on the regular menu. And similarly, if I want polenta, it can only be found in a shrimp appetizer or in the Veal Piccata, and it's always creamy. I've never ordered the Veal Piccata, but the shrimp appetizer is generally wonderful. The current incarnation is a Shrimp Scampi, with 6 decent sized shrimp, served over a pretty generous portion of creamy polenta. In the past, it has been a spicy, red-chili shrimp sautee over the same polenta, which I actually preferred. However, if I wanted grilled polenta or polenta cakes, they are not available, either, which is unfortunate.

But, it's not like there isn't enough starch in your meal there. The bread service is good - solid bread with butter, olive oil, parmasean, and ground black pepper at your disposal makes a carbo-overload pretty likely. And if you want, they also serve a tasty Sausage in Crust, which is a big chunk of sausage (with no casing), wrapped in a rich, pastry crust, as well as a Mediterranean Stuffed Bread, which is basically a loaf of bread, with the interior of the loaf scooped out, and replaced with olives, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and a bunch of mozzarella, and baked again. So, there are definitely starch options.

I will say that the salads and soups are rather pedestrian. They are decent openers, but they aren't anything that are memorable, though I do remember that the bacon on the Spinach Salad was cripsy, which many places will screw up. The wine list is somewhat limited, and not a real attraction, though it has been functional for me (I'm not a super wine guy, though). I will say that I've always enjoyed the moscato that they serve for dessert.

The entrees could be a little more inspired. They seem very typical - seared ahi tuna, grilled salmon, chicken marsala, veal piccata, a steak dish. I would love to see places take more chances - slow cooked braised dishes like osso bucco, an Italian version of Coq au Vin, or pork shoulder would be a welcome addition, as would a variety of seafood like grilled calamari or octopus, and more shellfish options. Of course, the problem is that in a place like Champaign-Urbana, demand is likely limited, so places will tend to play it safe.

Which makes for pretty decent dining, but doesn't exactly capture the imagination.

-foodgeek

Rating: 1 star

The Great Impasta - 114 West Church Street, Champaign, Illinois. 217.359.7377. Lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday. Dinner only on Monday and Weekends. Appetizers, Salads, and Soups - $3.50 - $7.50. Pastas - $9.50 - $13.50. Entrees - $13.50 - $20. Reservations recommended on the weekends.

Kitchen Happenings: More With Less

Well, the restaurant reviews are still on hold. Just not that motivated to write about these places right now. But, I've been opening up my kitchen a little more lately. The current plan is to go old school. I've taken the food trends that we see on the Food Network, and have gone pretty upscale in what I eat. Let's just say that it's time to go a little old school and see what I can come up with using some cheaper and more accessible ingredients.

Last week, I made up my first batch of chicken noodle soup for the season. Still tastes awesome. I'm not sure how it would taste with just plain water (probably not bad), but I think that cooking down the chicken bones is worth it for the extra flavor. Particularly since chicken bones don't cost extra, and cooking down the bones is so easy (I'm not worried about making the clear broth - a little cloudy is just fine with me).

Also, last week, we had some biscuits left over from our Cracker Barrell run, so I just had to make up a batch of sausage gravy. So easy, and so tasty. Brown sausage. Add flour to soak up the drippings. Add milk to turn into gravy. Season to taste. Call cardiologist with a smile on your face.

Currently sitting in my fridge are pork sirloin steaks that are marinated with soy, siracha, sugar, sour cherry syrup, lime juice, garlic, onion, and my Asian spice blend (cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, onion powder, garlic powder). These are also very tasty, and have satisfied my craving for Korean barbecue.

Projects on tap:

-I have some chicken thighs sitting in my freezer, which are begging to be cooked up. I'm not sure if I want to go the coq au vin direction, or if I want to get creative and try something completely different. We'll see about that.

-And I also have some very good soy-based braising liquid sitting in the freezer, as well, just begging to be used to create the classic Chinese cold appetizer plates that some of you may have had the pleasure of tasting. I'm thinking drumsticks, boiled eggs, honeycomb and tripe, and maybe some squid or cuttlefish.

-Also sitting in the freezer is some excellent broth for Italian beef. I think that I need to hit the Asian store to pick up some sliced beef soon. Some sauteed peppers and onions, some good bread, and some provolone, and I can probably feed an army.

-There's a butternut squash that has been on my counter for the last 6 weeks. And there are some apples that aren't getting eaten. It's time to roast those guys up, puree them, and add stock, cream, salt and pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and brown sugar for a nice fall soup. I think that I will probably use some of the sage that I have growing nicely in my herb garden, as well.

Anyway, that's what's happening out here in my kitchen. We'll see what works and what doesn't.

-foodgeek

How we eat

Well, apologies to both of our readers for the lack of authorship from Foodgeek of late. There are many reviews that are sitting in the Inbox, waiting to be written. But for now, here's a link to a NY Times article featuring one of my favorite marketing professors who does some awesome research on consumption.

-foodgeek