Sometimes, one plate just isn’t enough.

You may be asking why a restaurant blogger like myself would even consider the idea of having “one plate”, but every now and then I would like to ditch the sweat pants and button my jeans. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Although the occasions run rare, I find they usually happen on days when I visit restaurants. My dinner at Casa Barilla just happened to fall on such a day. Walking in, I told myself I would simply stick to one dish, but the minute I had my fork in hand all hope of a “solo-dolo-plate” kind of evening went out the window.

I could probably blame it on the wine or even the scent of all the pasta dishes around for making it impossible for me to hold to one plate, but I quickly gave up on the goal. Sitting in the restaurant at the shopping center of USC Village, the game plan was to simply review the restaurant’s Pasta alla Carbonara ($10, available until May 6, 2018). I would be given a delicious pasta dish, take a few photos, devour it, and walk out with my pride and my pants firmly secured around my waist. Too bad that didn’t happen.

What did occur would make the foodie in me proud of giving up on the chosen goal.

To start, I got the carbonara pasta. I was excited about it because the dish came just in time for the celebration of Carbonara Day. The day was established on April 6, 2017 and was now in its second year. While the origination of carbonara is up for debate by some, the common thought is that it started in Rome and was made to feed charcoal workers who needed a fast and filling meal while working long and strenuous hours. To keep them full, they were given a dish that required only the few ingredients they had at their disposal: bacon, eggs, cheese, salt, pepper, and pasta noodles. Sure, I’m not in the coal industry, but I can already say that’s a dish I can get behind.

Having the dish at Casa Barilla by Chef Alfonso, it was easy to love it. There’s something about the saltiness from bacon combining with the creaminess of an egg mixed with shaved hard cheese that just makes me so excited. The perfectly cooked pasta noodles sitting underneath it all only brought it together making the modest dish a clear standout.

Not to be given alone, more pasta dishes made their way from the kitchen to the table. They may not have been part of Carbonara Day, but who am I to say no to free food? A bite of the tortellini alfredo and the spaghetti e polpettine were just a few other dishes that made me ok with the fact that I was letting go of my goal. Then there was a salad, flatbread, and dessert all to make me question why I set the silly goal in the first place. While I only had a single fork of the extra plates, they were delicious regardless.

Leaving Casa Barilla, I was so glad I got to try the signature dish to celebrate the month long holiday. The carbonara was such a flavorful plate that I savored each moment I had with it. I may have wanted to stick to having one plate that evening, but considering how good the carbonara was, there was no way I could hold to it. And if you were wondering, I did have a second carbonara and I don’t regret it one bite. I mean bit, bit. Looks like I still have carbonara on the brain. Can you blame me?

The answer is no.

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