Farina a Legna

Wait, wasn't there a post for Farina a Legna a few months ago?  That would be right.  Normally, I do not revisit a restaurant so soon (this was before the restrictions were in place), but Costanza really wanted to try the place out.  He is a big fan of the original Farina on Main Street.  Hey so am I!  I figured why not since I only got to try one pasta the last time (it wasn't good by the way...).  So this was a good chance to see if it anything would be different this time around.  Well, at least nothing different with the pizzas though because they were as good as the Main Street location.

So let's get right to the pizzas with the best on their menu in our opinion - the Finocchiona sporting tomato sauce, fennel sausage, provolone, fresh basil, parmigiano reggiano and sweet peppers.  In terms of taste, this pizza pops with the intensely sweet peppers and also the aromatic sausage.  The tang from the tomato sauce and mildness of the cheese brought everything together.  Loved the crust as the outside was crispy while the middle was not much softer than the edge.  Hence, it was easy to hold the pizza without losing any toppings due to drooping.  Farina is one of the only places in town that can boast that.  Should a Neapolitan pizza be like that?  I don't really care because I like it!  It was almost anti-climatic as we tackled the Margherita, but that didn't mean it was not just as good.  Same crust, same sauce, just simple with fior di latte, olive oil and fresh basil.

We also ordered the Funghi with white sauce, mushrooms, parmigiano reggiano, aged mozzarella, roasted garlic and arugula.  This is another fan favourite based on their original location.  This also did not disappoint with the same well-seasoned chewy crust that was uniformly crispy throughout.  It was all about the aromatics with this pizza as the flavours were both subtle and apparent at the same time with woodsiness and the hit from the garlic.  Okay, here is where the meal went into hit and miss mode.  For our first pasta, we had the Spaghetti Bolognese with beef, pork and mortadella, which was decent.  We found the pasta to be firmly al dente while coated in just enough sauce for impact.  It wasn't as rich as we would've liked, but there was still appealing meatiness. Tomato sauce was fresh as well.

We ended up trying both versions of the Carbonara with spaghetti and rigatoni.  If we had to compare, the rigatoni came out better with al dente tubes of pasta that was able to stand up to the salty guanciale more than the spaghetti.  We liked how it was not as rich as some other versions.  We universally hated the Pappardelle with pomodoro, guanciale, pecorino and amatriciana.  The pasta was clumpy and completely mushy.  Futhermore, the flavour profile was far too sweet.  Even the salty ingredients weren't able to balance it off.  Considering these pastas cost as much as places such as Oca Pastificio, Livia and La Tana, they have a long way to go to catch up.  However, their pizzas still rock, so that is a constant.  If you want some of the best Neapolitan-style pizza in town, Farina still remains one of the best choices.

The Good:
- Excellent pizza with the most uniformly textured crust in town
- Attentive service
- More dining space compared to their other location

The Bad:
- Pastas on both visits