Review – Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak, Astoria Oregon

Review – Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak, Astoria Oregon

Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak 1149 Commercial St, Astoria, OR 97103 Google Map

Fulio’s is not your typical Italian place. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall location. You can easily walk by and not notice it. But inside is has a very nice atmosphere.

They have a nice wine selection and an amply stocked bar. Where Fulio’s shines though is that their food is not the same as every other Italian place in the world. They have some real innovative items on the menu. My personal favorite is sausage with noodles in a mustard cream sauce.

Another good option is almost the same dish, but with tomato cream sauce with no meat. Other options are on the menu, including several original salads and best of all, an ample selection for the vegetarians. Which is amazing in itself considering Astoria qualifies as a small town.

This place is so good that we’ve driven to Astoria several times just for the food and I never go through Astoria without stopping here.


Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak, Astoria Oregon

Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak, Astoria Oregon

Fulio’s Pastaria-Tuscan Steak 1149 Commercial St, Astoria, OR 97103 [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1149+Commercial+St,+Astoria,+Clatsop,+Oregon+97103,+United+States&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.737461,71.015625&ie=UTF8&cd=5&geocode=0,46.189014,-123.830952&ll=46.189606,-123.83096&spn=0.006551,0.017338&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=0]Google Map[/url]

Fulio’s is not your typical Italian place. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall location. You can easily walk by and not notice it. But inside is has a very nice atmosphere.

They have a nice wine selection and an amply stocked bar. Where Fulio’s shines though is that their food is not the same as every other Italian place in the world. They have some real innovative items on the menu. My personal favorite is sausage with noodles in a mustard cream sauce.

Another good option is almost the same dish, but with tomato cream sauce with no meat. Other options are on the menu, including several original salads and best of all, an ample selection for the vegetarians. Which is amazing in itself considering Astoria qualifies as a small town.

This place is so good that we’ve driven to Astoria several times just for the food and I never go through Astoria without stopping here.


Good smelling things

Good smelling things

I’ve never been much of an olfactory dependent person, I think most people aren’t. On the other hand I do know that my sense of smell tends to be better then most other peoples.

Some recent good smells I’ve noticed:
Barbeque
Tomato Plants
The air when rain is coming (called “petrichor”)
Fresh cut Pine trees (vastly different then the typical Christmas Tree smell)
Garlic
Sautéed Onions
Good quality dirt

I’m sure a physiologist (and even a phycologist) might have something to say about the fact that all the smells are food related, or outdoorsy.

Tomatoes!

Tomatoes!

The best part about having a house? Having a garden!

These little beauties are coming along nicely. Of the three types of tomatoes I’ve got, two types are coming in. Either the third is a later bloomer (I hope,) or it’s being blocked from the sun too much by the bigger plants.

The biggest ones are the Brandywines:

Brandywine

These are huge heirloom tomatoes on the same size as the more common beefsteak tomatoes. They’re supposed to have much more flavor too. Apparently this strain was rediscovered in 1985 and has quickly become the most popular heirloom tomato.

JapaneseTrifle

The Japanese Black Trifele originated in Russia instead of Japan. It’s apparently going to be the size and shape of a Bartlett Pear, but will be a more purple color.

Garden Views

Garden Views

Buying a house these days is not like the heady good old days of free ARM’s being given out to every one who asked without any type of references what so ever. The difficulties of house buying in this day and age are near infinite it seems. We finally closed after the Mortgage Officer had literally gone through six different companies. One wanted us to have slightly better credit. One wanted us to not buy in this neighborhood at all. One wanted a bigger down payment. One wanted us to carry more mortgage insurance with a bigger up front payment. Ironically, paying a few thousand MORE for the house got us to go with this last one AND a smaller down payment. This of course was all on top of the seller’s two lenders who had to approve the whole thing. It was literally down to the wire before foreclosure and only proof that we were interested in the house and had an offer in allowed the lenders to keep from doing so. Ironically, this has caused us to get two “letters” from companies seeking to refinance us on our “foreclosure” due to the time it takes all the public records to get updated.

Old Garden

So here is the old owner’s garden. In the middle of December when we first were browsing the market.

Garden

Here is the same view, last week. I’m letting the second bed go because I’m planning on starting a whole new one in another part of the yard so weeds are pretty bad. The front bed will go away in the fall after we’ve harvested everything. There are two brandywine tomato plants, a Japanese heirloom tomato who’s name escapes me, white sweet corn, Anaheim hot peppers, another heirloom tomato, and “pizza” peppers. This menagerie of plants were products of an impulse buy at Costco, who had six organic plants (Tomatoes and peppers,) for $15 or so.

Also in the picture are two Camas plants which are doing pretty well considering they’re still in the pots, a Chinese Tea Plant, and hidden way in the corner are four lonely strawberry plants that the squirrels ate before the berries even had a chance to get ripe.

Off picture is two potato stacks made of old truck tires and filled with red potatoes. Thanks to “Steve”, the previous owner for leaving them in the garage for me to “dispose” of, along with 40 plus gallons of used motor oil. The theory is to plant the potatoes in the first tire then when it’s 6-8 inches above the top, put another tire on and more dirt. Repeat until you’re four or five tires up. Then harvest in the fall and enjoy the bounty of fresh potatoes.

The eventual plan is to dedicate a large portion of the yard to vegetables and fruits. The good thing about the weeds and grass is that right now they’re providing plenty of foliage for the compost piles, which will of course make it’s way back into the raised beds next year. I might also have to add a green house for early starters to increase the growing season. On top of this all, I’m relearning everything I might have ever known about gardening.

Luckily it’s mostly common sense.