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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1998)
Cucina! Presto! offers Italian eats at cheap prices UJ niMima nuuilldM) Student Activities Reporter It’s 1:30 p.m., and you’re on the comer of 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street with your stomach grumbling. Where do you eat? Is your stomach saying sub sandwich, crepe, Chinese food, pizza or bagel sandwich? But your stomach probably also says that those sound like the last three years of University eats. It seems as if students spend half their time searching for some new taste, something tanta lizing to their taste buds or pleasing to their palates. Then, over spring break, presto! Like magic, Starbucks and Cucina! Presto! appear in the night to take their place on the comer of Alder Street and 13th Avenue. A little variety never hint any student looking for a quick bite on the go. Cucina! Presto! may not replace your Italian mother’s cooking or take you back to that summer vacation in Italy, but it does promise to bring students a hot plate of pas ta and a bread stick to boot in less than five min utes. Cucina! Presto!, translated as "quick kitchen,” promises quality with a quickness, according to general manager Julie Baliva. She has owned and run restaurants all over the United States and has managed Cucina! Presto! and Cafe stores for over two years. "There’s too much repetition around college campuses,” she said. “People don’t always want to eat at tacotteii. Unique aspects of Cucina’s menu include goat cheese and artichoke pizza with pesto and pine nuts and imported Italian lager. The Italian sandwiches range from meatball and Italian sausage to paninos — a form of Italian flat bread wrapped around chicken, veggies or pepperoni and cheese pesto. The prices range from $3.79 for a meatball sandwich to $5.99 for a plate of spaghetti puttanesca with rock shrimp, olives, capers and artichoke hearts. Most of the pasta dishes are spiced up with special additions such as sauteed peppers, sun dried tomatoes, ricotta and bolognese, depend ing on your preference. But I can vouch that Cucina’s does have identifiable vegetables in the fettucine with roasted eggplant, carrots, mush rooms, tomatoes and broccoli. Cucina also roasts their garlic to make garlic oil. The wood-fired 9 inch pizzas include vari eties such as: basic cheese, veggie, BBQ chick en, pepperoni, sausage and mushroom, and the illustrious goat cheese and artichoke pizza with pesto and pine nuts. The Eugene store uses oak to fire up the dough because wood-fired pizzas have more flavor, Balvia explained. I have heard from other students that Cucina gets kudos for their minestrone soup, which has awesome croutons that soak all the stuff up. Salads include Caesar, chicken Caesar, Asian chicken salad, mixed greens and the famous chopped salad. The chopped salad includes chicken, salami, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, garban zo beans, scallions, provolone, mozzarella and vinaigrette. For those watching their weight, the menu boasts some items with less than 30 percent of calories from fat. The pizzas can be made with low-fat mozzarella and the salads can be drenched in fat-free Caesar dressing. The best deals for a meager college wage are the presto combos. For $5 to $6, a student can purchase a pepperoni, sausage and mushroom pizza and salad; an Italian sausage sandwich and salad; penne with bolognese meat sauce and a side caesar Salad; or minestrone soup and a side of chopped salad with a bread stick. For those looking to feed the masses, family meal choices are available. The $10 to $14 meals serve two to three people, and the $19 to $27 meals feed four or five. Cucina! Presto! is open Monday through Sat urday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Live local music is fea tured on Saturday around 8 p.m. We’re talking food, folks — something differ ent when the noon hour strikes. Students will need to eat every day, and sometimes a plate of pasta with some goat cheese and chicken might hit the spot. Cucina! Presto! is just another stop on the way to class, or maybe even all excuse not to go at all. poppi*/ _/4na4olTa. p "The Land East" Traditional Greek & Indian Food Lunch Monday through Saturday Dinner 7 Nights a Week 992 Willamette Eugene, Or 97401 343-9661 ODE Serving 10,000 Daily Clearing Out? i i Sell your books & magazines I for Cash Buyers at two locations f Specializing in the Care of German, Swedish and Japanese Automobiles. $2 Discount with This Coupon LANE ESD PLANETARIUM (behind Autzen Stadium) Show Info Line: 687.STAR 0041301 ir vV/ i v 9:30 Laser Doors Fast 10:45 Laser Metailica 12 Midnight Laser Floyd: The Wall 003344 8 9 10 n Art History PAPER DUE'" buy OiLEnad.. Baper towels Ramen Get Amy at airport, 10:34 12 4 \G J IWW i ni i w i ( i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ,4/n 25 26 27 28 29 30 003152 V The Oregon Daily Emerald is accepting applications for Advertising Executives - Applications may be picked up in Suite 300, EMU. 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