At Mario’s Osteria in Boca, pastas include “Forever Braised” Beef Short Ribs over Rigatoni with broccoli rabe and fresh ricotta; Fedelini (thicker than angel hair, thinner than spaghetti) & Clams with chili pepper and a white wine lemon sauce; Butternut Squash Ravioli in Vanilla Bean Brown Butter with fresh sage, (a dish we first encountered almost 40 years ago at San Francisco’s Fog City Diner); and Big Rigatoni & Sunday Gravy, a cornucopia of flavor, with slow-roasted pork short rib, sausage, meatball, fried peppers, savory pork gravy and ricotta.
Oven-baked pastas include house signature Lasagna comprising ricotta, mozz, asiago, veal Bolognese and mascarpone draped in a thin sheet of fresh pasta; and potato gnocchi a la Vodka with crumbled sausage and fresh mozzerella.
Fresh fish and seafood include Jumbo Shrimp Scampi in garlic Butter and white wine lemon sauce, with peas and chili flakes over fedelini; Cioppino, San Francisco’s Italian American seafood stew, with lobster, Dungeness crab, shrimp, mussels, clams and calamari with fregola from Sardinia, a semolina pasta resembling cous cous; and signature dish, Snapper Vesuvio, sautéed with roasted red peppers, capers and artichokes, finished with white wine-lemon sauce and served with spinach in garlic & oil.
Dessert Recommendations: House-made Ricotta Cheesecake and Tiramisu!
