12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
At Finni’s, cooking is all in the family
Rating:
490 W. Marine Dr ive,
Astoria
PHONE: 503-791-5581
HOURS: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon-
day-Saturday
PRICE: $ — Most entrées
around $10
SERVICE: Call ahead or wait
around.
VEGETARIAN/VEGAN OP-
TIONS: A few.
DRINKS: Bottled water, soda.
Review and photos by MOUTH
OF THE COLUMBIA
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
O
Only when John Finni’s grand-
father feared the end was nigh did
he fi nally pass down the family’s
sausage recipe. As such, it was
nicknamed the “deathbed sausage.”
Women in the family made
their mark, too. “Italian like ‘Zia’
used to make it,” reads the tagline
of Finni’s Fine Foods. (‘Zia’ is
Italian for aunt.) And the food the
Finni s share is evocative of Italian
upbringing, where an aunt — or
mother or grandfather — ladles
mountains of spaghetti, marinara
and meatballs onto on overfl owing
plate and still wonders if you’re
eating enough
Third -generation immigrants,
the Finnis — John and Jen —
moved to Astoria last year to be
closer to family. And while the
food truck was a new venture,
conceived after arrival, restaurant
work goes back generations.
Finni’s glossy, sea -green
truck popped up in December,
parked next to the long running
El Asadero in the old gas sta-
tion lot on Astoria’s west end. It
offers Italian building blocks —
meatballs, Marinara, the storied
sausage and so on — in a few
permutations, mostly sandwiches
and pasta. Available too are a few
appetizer-like shared plates and
sides like soups and salad. And
while a sandwich with a bag of
Lay’s brand chips makes for a fi ne
lunch, it’s easy to see Finni’s as
a to-go family dinner option by
coupling a few dishes.
If a group dinner is your aim,
though, you’ll want to call ahead.
Finni’s fairly involved preparation
approaches restaurant-like wait
times. In my three trips, I averaged
20-plus minutes between order and
delivery. All of the dishes are well
packed, and while I mostly dined
there and never needed reheating
(Finni’s foods come out steaming
hot), I appreciated that the pasta
FINNI’S FINE
FOODS
KEY TO STAR RATING SYSTEM
Finni’s Flatbread was like a sliced sau-
sage sandwich with a lot fewer fi xins,
and the bread was really crunchy.
came in tins, convenient for re-
warming in the oven.
Before spelling out individu-
al dishes it seems more effi cient
to focus on the building blocks.
The marinara was dark, thick and
herby, distinguished by a lingering
fi nish of cinnamon. The meatballs,
a little bigger than table-tennis
balls, were close siblings of meat-
loaf, mixing bread crumbs, eggy
binding, onions and spices. The
“deathbed sausage,” freshly ground
and uncased, too was herby and
supple, well cooked with creeping,
but manageable, heat.
I was dubious about the “home-
made” bread, which was bleached
white, dull and quite uniform. The
hoagie 7-odd -inch -long sandwich
rolls were better, heavily toasted
with a crunchy, crumbling crust.
I found myself most drawn to
the sandwiches. I had all three: the
Meatball ($8.50), with marinara
and stretchy melted provolone;
the Sausage ($9 ) was shaped
like a kayak, topped with sweet
caramelized onions and sautéed
peppers; the Italian Beef was akin
to a French dip, only with the au
jus poured in, rather than on the
side, and topped with giardiniera,
a vinegar y Italian relish of diced
The Fritto Provolone had a familiar fl avor — mozzarella sticks.
Penne Arrabiata was stirred penne
tubes with melding of marinara and
Alfredo sauces.
Italian Beef was akin to a French dip.
bell peppers, carrots, celery and
onions that provided sharp, acidic
pep to the sinewy, soft, juicy roast
beef.
Of the four pastas I had two:
the spaghetti Pomodoro and the
Penne arrabiata. (I felt like I’d
gleaned already the essence of
the marinara.) The Pomodoro —
simply noodles, olive oil, basil,
tomatoes and a light dusting of
Parmesan — was elemental, but
underwhelming, a tough sell at
$8. Until in-season tomatoes are
plucked straight from the vine,
it’ll remain so. The Arrabiata
($10), which stirred penne tubes
with melding of marinara and Al-
fredo sauces, combined the dark
cinnamon of the red sauce with a
sweet, milky white. I liked that it
was pre tossed on the stove, so the
ratios were maintained — sauces,
meats and cheeses overwhelming
the pasta. It was quite spicy, too,
thanks to red pepper fl akes.
Of the shared plates I tried the
Fiini’s Flatbread ($9), which was
like a sliced sausage sandwich
with a lot fewer fi xins, and the
bread was really crunchy. The
Fritto Provolone had a famil-
iar fl avor — mozzarella sticks,
though Finni’s prefers provolone
— in a more aesthetically pleasing
Below average
Average
Good
Excellent
Best in region
presentation: like a cheesy pie,
breaded except for a cross through
the center, with a circle of mar-
inara in the center : Essentially a
crusted cheese disc an inch thick,
6 or 7 inches wide, it should be
shared, less your arteries deserve
punishment.
Salty and beefy, the Minestro-
ne soup ($5 cup) warmed me on
a cold day. The salad is a milky
Caesar, which isn’t described on
the menu. At a reasonable price
of $3 when added to another dish.
It was, however, drowning in the
thin dressing, and topped with
more long slices of provolone
than a salad based on iceberg
lettuce needs. The solution, how-
ever, is simple: serve the dressing
on the side — then too it could
survive a drive home without
becoming mush. (I ate it there and
it was still mushy.)
But the foundations of this
Italian truck — the meatballs,
sausage and marinara — are
bonafi de. Heavy, comfortable
and familiar, Finni’s is, after all,
home y Italian food — of the kind
grandparents approve.