All this talk about fresh hand-made pasta was just too much yesterday so I went out to Mona Lisa to see what the place was all about. I imagined something very teeny-tiny, and was instead surprised by a large Italian-import market. For those of you that have had the good luck to live or travel in Italy, and crave something from the “old world”, come check out Mona Lisa. I guarantee its not anywhere near as pretentious as all of you think Foods Of All Nations is.

The first thing you notice when you walk in are the pizza’s hanging out on the front-counter. They looked dam good. If I had known this was a semi-lunch spot I would have skipped Sticks and had pizza instead. A couple people were there just for the pizza, so it should be at least decent.

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A local group calling themselves the “Experimental Cuisine Collective” is trying to recruit members to think really hard about food. Their Craigslist post reads:

In order to spread the growing knowledge of progressive American cuisine and cooking techniques, I am proposing the formation of a group that is committed to the ideas, production, and philosophy of today’s cuisine seen in restaurants across the country such as Alinea (Chicago), WD-50(NYC), Moto (Chicago), McCrady’s (Charleston), 202 Market (Roanoke, VA), Town House Grill (Chilhowie, VA), and a growing list of many more.

The group would not not be a stuffy, elitist guild of culinarians, but instead a exciting, forward thinking, yet laid-back society that would promote the spread of ideas above all else.

Please contact if interested. Chefs, diners, home cooks, anyone interested in this cuisine of the modern age, let me know.

This group has even created a blog to track their culinary discoveries. Judging from the blog, Craigslist ad, and their mission statement, it sounds like a fun club to join…who is game?

Fancy food pic from Flickr.

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