Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Give It a Twirl: Pastorante noodles around with Italian cuisine.

Screenshot 2013-09-30 00.00.19

Sri Kumarasingam is fixing Harrisburg’s deficit, the deficit of freshly made, Italian pasta, that is. A passionate chef and lover of pasta, Sri entered the Harrisburg restaurant scene in June with Pastorante where—you guessed it—pasta is the main attraction.

Although he enjoys experimenting with all types of cooking—Thai, French, Italian—he thought Harrisburg lacked a restaurant that exclusively sold pasta, an idea that gave birth to Pastorante.

His fresh pasta is produced from his pasta machine, located center stage behind a glass pane that separates the kitchen from the dining area. “We make the pasta right up front so people can see it. It’s an open kitchen. A lot of people have not seen pasta being made, so that’s an attraction,” said Sri.

The contemporary and simple elegance of the space reflects European style, a continent that Sri used to call home. “With the tables and chairs outside, it feels like a European café,” he said.

His menu features exotic rarities to central Pennsylvania, including squid ink fettuccine with shrimp and pappardelle with oxtail ragu. The squid ink pasta noodles are black, looking like a cluster of little, lineless highways on a plate. It has a distinct seafood taste, and the perfectly seasoned shrimp complement and complete the dish.

“This one lady said this is the most disgusting-sounding thing she’s ever heard, but she tried it and said this is the best thing that she’s ever eaten,” said Sri.

The pappardelle with oxtail ragu is a plate of flat noodles, similar to fettuccine but wider, with a meaty sauce that has oxtails that were slow cooked for eight hours before being added to the sauce.

Sri plans on infusing different cultures into his menu, as well. His latest project is discovering a way to incorporate edamame, an immature soybean often found in Japanese cooking, into a dish. Also, be on the lookout for lemon grass, beetroot and chocolate on the menu in the coming months. “If I eat something somewhere, I’ll be thinking, ‘How can I make this into a pasta?’” said Sri.

The classics, like macaroni and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs, are also represented, albeit with a delicious, fresh twist that distinguishes them from their boxed, grocery store cousins.

The dessert menu features staples like Key lime pie and chocolate lava cake, but a pasta-lover like Sri can’t help but experiment with pasta desserts, as well. A recent sweet was chocolate pasta topped with a crunchy peanut butter caramel sauce. Every chocolate-lover needs to give this dish a try.

After opening his first restaurant in the college town of Oxford, England, Sri is used to young people eating experimentally, but he is very receptive to the tastes and needs of an urban American audience of Midtown locals and suburban working commuters.

The Midtown location is within walking distance of downtown offices and is central to the residential community. Sri started offering a lunchtime menu during the summer to appeal to the commuting lunchtime crowd. Pastorante will be selling prepackaged noodles and sauces for those who stop in at lunchtime and want to have a quick meal for dinner, as well.

Residents and businesses of Midtown alike have welcomed Pastorante into their neighborhood. “It’s a good place to live. It’s good for business. The city is coming back up. This area is coming back up,” said Sri.

Pastorante is located at 1012 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. Call 717-232-7050 or check out the daily specials on their Facebook page, PastorantePA. 

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