Neighborhood pasta at Via Emilia

(Jeez, I shirk on posting for a few weeks and now I'm about thirty posts behind. So much for blogging on time. Ready yourselves for a barrage of catch-up posts, people.)

Since I had to drop by my old office to drop off a freelance project, I seized the opportunity to also have lunch with some beloved ex-coworkers. DL suggested Via Emilia, which was a good and surprisingly well-priced choice for Italian food, offering both dried and fresh pasta dishes along with panini and salads. For my meal I went with the farfalle al salmone ($10), which was bowtie pasta with asparagus and smoked salmon in a cream sauce. I found it a little bit too rich, but it was tasty and the amount they give you isn't overwhelming, so I was able to finish it without much difficulty. I took a bite of DL's tagliolini saporiti—fresh tagliolini with sundried tomatoes, spinach, pine nuts, olive oil, and garlic—and thought it was quite good, and MW's tagliatelle al ragu looked delicious. While probably not a destination restaurant, Via Emilia is a good option for inexpensive Italian if you're in the area, and it definitely proved to be a nice spot for catching up on the latest office news.