| When the directions include "do
a U-turn just after the fire department", hopes don't run real high. But
we listened and dutifully wound our way through Kennesaw to some of the
finest fresh pasta to be found in the metro are.
Costa's Pasta has been Atlanta's best-known secret for
nearly 18 years now. Joe and Mary Costa and their sons practically invented
the meals-to-go concept. The pastas, made fresh each weekday, are sold
wholesale to some of Atlanta's best restaurants. Count us lucky the Costas
sell retail to the public, too. The quality is unimpeachable, the price
per pound less than that of gourmet imported dry pasta.
And the choices. Tortellini filled with veal and prosciutto,
pheasant, lobster, pumpkin, beef and just plain cheese. Ravioli filled
with pesto, artichoke hearts, eggplant, mushrooms, salmon, chicken, duck.
Plain pasta shapes from angel hair to papparedelle to ziti.
The pans of lasagna, manicotti and shells, at $13 to $15
for six to eight servings, have garnered untold compliments for Atlanta
hostesses. You can even drop off your own 9-by-12-inch casserole, and they'll
make the dish in that. Your job is bake and serve.
|
 Prices
for plain fresh pastas by the pound begin at $1.61; filled pastas, frozen,
start at $2.25 per pound. Good Italian grandmother that she is, Mary Costa
provides these instructions:
Have the salted water boiling hard, add the fresh pasta
and cook mere minutes, with one eye always on the pot.
Here's the Costa's caveat: You'll want to call ahead for
daily choices and plan accordingly. Or the Costas will prepare special
orders with 24 hours' notice.
Directions: take the Barrett Parkway exit from I-75 and
head west toward Kennesaw Mountain. Turn right on Cobb Parkway and go 1.5
miles. Pass the fire department on your right and make that U-turn. (NationsRent
will be on your left). Turn right at the Attic Self-Storage sign and proceed
down Attic Parkway to the end. Costa's Pasta is in the unadorned beige
building at 2045 Attic Parkway (770-514-8814). |
