By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Does Arezzo’s pea-flavored pasta taste like peas? You may not care.

Let’s say that the pea flavor in the pea-flavored ricotta cavatelli at Arezzo was, well, subtle.

Maybe that’s a nice way of saying I didn’t really taste the green legume in the Tuscan-style eatery’s cavatelli ia piselli, as advertised. Then again, maybe it was an element in the entire flavor profile of the dish, which featured the ridged shell-shaped pasta smothered in a creamy ragout with ragged chunks of sausage.

In either case, it was good. The pasta was just al dente enough and the sausage chunks were the right size to accompany the pasta.

It also had a look all its own. The muted green of the pasta and the orange-ish sauce recalled the décor of a 1970s kitchen.

The $24.95 entrée was one of several options on the menu that boasted homemade pasta, with one other choice featuring a flavored version – the mint-infused pappardelle with braised lamb shank ragout.

There are plenty of more upscale options on the Arezzo menu. Branzino roasted in a wood-burning oven, marinated and grilled New Zealand lamb and a veal cutlet topped with prosciutto di Parma are examples.

But the cavatelli was a simple and tasty meal. An Arezzo twist on Italian comfort food. Of course, at Arezzo, on a pleasant day, the setting makes everything taste better. The open area out back, with round-backed rattan chairs and white tablecloths, sits directly on the Saugatuck River, just south of the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.

So it matters little whether you find the pea flavor in the pea-flavored pasta. You’re likely to enjoy the search for it.

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}