THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509200047
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: A La Carte
SOURCE: Donna Reiss
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
THE FAMILIAR checked tablecovers will remain. So will the large open kitchen with woodburning stove, and a menu full of homemade pastas and sauces.
So says Angelo Serpe, chef-owner of Pasta e Pani on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach. Soon, the restaurant will move to a new location - a few doors down Laskin, at the former Dick's Clam and Cow.
Pasta e Pani will be closed for about three weeks while moving, Serpe says.
The new location will include a larger bar-waiting area and a wine room with a private dining table. Assisting Serpe in the kitchen is Craig Bianco, who was trained at the Culinary Institute of America and in West Coast restaurants. The restaurant will remain nonsmoking except for a separate banquet room. Call Pasta e Pani at 428-2299.
Anniversary celebration
Val's Mini-Italia in Virginia Beach is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Co-owner Masood Ayat says some customers still call him Val, though he and wife Bahar changed the format and menu of the restaurant they opened a decade ago at 4586 Pembroke Meadows Shopping Center.
They kept Val's name, added ``Mini-Italia'' and brought in tables and chairs to the former takeout-only eatery. Two years ago, they added such dishes as chicken kebab and a homemade Persian burger, reminiscent of Masood Ayat's Iranian roots. Help celebrate with 1985 prices of two medium pizzas for $8.95; look for the coupon in local tabloids. Stop in or call for carryout: 490-2151.
New Grille
If you've lived in Virginia Beach since 1968, you may remember the Yardarm, now Frankie's Place for Ribs.
Owned by John and Bev D'Apolito, the Yardarm closed in 1980. But the family has hoisted a new sail at the 22nd Street Raw Bar and Grille, a block from Atlantic Avenue.
Bev D'Apolito is in charge of the kitchen; daughter Tiffany Ricks tends bar. Along with a full raw bar, the Grille features crab cakes, fried shrimp and oysters, and several pasta dishes in a casual neighborhood setting.
Open from noon to 2 a.m. daily, dinner only in winter. Call 491-2222.
Orapax moves
Less than a year after opening a second location at Hilltop West in Virginia Beach, the Orapax has moved to larger quarters at at Hilltop East.
As in Norfolk, the Seretis family serves a full menu of Greek foods to eat in, take out or have delivered. Call 428-3137 for the Virginia Beach restaurant, or 627-8041 in Norfolk.
Quick bites
The Backroom at Oh! Brians, Wards Corner in Norfolk, opened at the beginning of August with a separate entrance, large screen sports viewing, live music, and buffet from 5 p.m. Call 480-7267. . . . Chef Todd Brown of Brewer's East Inn, 2484 North Landing Road, near the Virginia Beach courthouse complex, won ``judge's choice'' for his pan-seared sea bass over barbecued lentils with rhubarb and wildberry chutney at the recent Great California Cuisine Cook-Off sponsored by Haynes Furniture and WNIS Radio. Here's the recipe. MEMO: Send restaurant news, along with your name and a daytime phone number,
to a la carte, c/o Flavor, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, Va. 23510, or send e-mail to dreiss(AT)infi.net. by CNB