M and I were overdue for a date day, so on Saturday we headed to Half Moon Bay for some foggy hiking and a nice dinner. We decided to check out a local Italian place (there are a lot of them, actually) called Pasta Moon, even though from the outside it looked a little casual.
This restaurant was a reminder not to be deceived by appearances - the funky rusted metal exterior gives way to an airy, classy interior, with hardwood floors, big windows looking on to a garden, a wood fired oven, white tablecloths...
We were still a little full from our picnic lunch....and an afternoon visit to a cafe... so we decided to share. First up was an appetizer, the "Spring Asparagus" - large asparagus stalks lightly battered in tempura, and served with a lemon aioli.
The asparagus was light and perfectly cooked, and even without the aioli it was delicious - with the light lemon flavor addition, it was amazing. For our entree, we got the special for the evening, a cannelloni filled with ricotta, spinach, and wood fired smoked chicken, topped with a sauce of tomato, cream, amaretto, and hazelnuts.
It was very good - the pasta was clearly made in-house, and the sauce was delicious, but the smoky flavor from the chicken was a little overly strong without any type of fresh vegetable to balance it out.
This was really a find - I've been wanting to try Pasta Moon for years. It's a little on the pricey side, but the food is excellent to match.
