Date: Fri 27-Nov-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Vallarina-pasta-business-knees

Full Text:

Villarina's Pasta Is A Family Affair

(with photos)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Courtney Knees fed a sheet of pasta into the pasta machine and watched as

ribbons of finely cut noodles cascaded from its teeth.

The 16-year-old Newtown high school junior had come after classes last Friday

to work at Villarina's, the fresh pasta shop opened by her mother, Joanne

Knees, and her aunt, Sue Eskierski, in the Bennett Square shopping center in

Southbury.

Courtney was only 11 when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia

(ALL) in the spring of 1993. After three years of treatment with chemotherapy

at Yale-New Haven Hospital, she went into remission. Now, five years later,

she is considered cured. She runs indoor and outdoor track, works at The Gap

and, on Sundays, helps out at the pasta shop.

"I had just moved back to Connecticut from California the month before

Courtney was diagnosed," Sue Eskierski said. "I was able to go to Yale-New

Haven every day, something that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was still

living on the West Coast."

Sue had grown up in Norwalk, attended the University of California at Los

Angeles and, after graduation, worked for a property development company in

the Los Angeles area for 12 years.

"A couple of years before I came home to Connecticut, I bought a house in

Middlebury because I knew I wanted to come home someday and have my own

business," she said. "When I returned, I went to work for a cheese shop in

Darien to learn the business."

Then she became interested in Villarina's, a group of independently owned

fresh pasta shops in lower Fairfield County and New York state. She became the

manager at the Darien store, and her sister, who lives in the Hawleyville

section of Newtown, joined her a few days each week at the shop.

"Villarina's is a great concept," Sue said. "We wanted to bring it to

Southbury because there is nothing like it in the area. It's a great product,

it's affordable -- there's nothing like it here. It's also a lot shorter daily

commute for both of us."

The Southbury store is the 11th Villarina shop. It features a large selection

of ravioli, pasta, sauces, and prepared dinners that are made daily at the

plant in New Rochelle and delivered to each of the stores.

The shop, located behind Leo's in Bennett Square, is next door to More Good

Books, which is moving out of the soon-to-be demolished Bazaar at Heritage

Village. A doorway has been opened between the bookstore and the pasta shop,

where prepared gourmet coffee, biscotti, and several inviting tables and

chairs beckon.

"Charles Bell, the owner of More Good Books, didn't want to have to put in a

cafe, so this arrangement should work well," Sue said. "Eventually we will be

doing tastings and booksignings with the bookstore. Meanwhile, we've already

discovered that some people come in for the pasta and, instead of taking it

home, want to eat it here."

"That's what I love -- the relationships you develop with customers. It's what

I like about the business," she said. "Little by little, we plan to expand our

product line to include more specialty cheeses, specialty meats and other

products. Every week there will be something new."

The shop offers colorful varieties of pasta, or "fresh macaroni" as it is

described in the Italian way, including egg, spinach, tomato, black pepper,

red bell pepper, garlic and parsley, basil, whole wheat, lemon pepper, carrot,

and the exotic black squid ink, each of which can be cut into angel hair,

spaghetti, linguini, fettuccini or lasagna.

The sauces, all of which also are prepared fresh daily, include tomato,

marinara, bolognese, alfredo, vodka, mushroom, arugula, filetto, fra diavolo,

porcini mushroom, puttanesca, white clam, walnut, pesto cream, quattro

formaggi (four cheese), artichoke and pepper, pesto, sundried tomato pesto,

red pepper cream, and seafood.

The large round, medium square, and bite-size ravioli come stuffed with not

only meat or cheese, but also such fillings as lobster, smoked mozzarella and

roasted peppers, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes, low-fat pumpkin or acorn

squash -- more than a dozen varieties, plus four more which are low-fat and

low cholesterol.

Specialty pastas include several varieties of manicotti, stuffed shells,

agnolotti, gnocchi, cavatelli and tortellini, plus fresh low-fat,

low-cholesterol amori, rigatoni, fusilli, penne, ziti, shells, radiatore, and

cartwheels. There are also party trays, made fresh to order, which serve 8-10

or 12-15 people.

There are more than two dozen homestyle dinners, in microwaveable/ovenproof

trays, that range from baked ziti to smoked mozzarella and roasted pepper

ravioli in a pesto cream sauce, and include eight low-fat selections.

The shop offers specialty breads baked on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, frozen

appetizers and frozen Italian desserts, balsamic vinegars, olive oils, olives,

and other specialty products.

Villarina's Pasta & More is open seven days a week: 10 to 7 Monday through

Friday, 10 to 6 on Saturday, and 10 to 4 on Sunday. Gift certificates and

custom-made gift baskets are available. Call 264-3000 for more information.