I was in town for work this week and was nosing around for some good italian cuisine. I typed in "cacio e pepe" to see what hits I would get. I first had this dish in Rome last fall and I was jonesing for a fix.
I arrived by myself around 7:00pm and had no trouble getting a seat. I chose to sit at the pizza bar, even though I wasn't planning on getting the pizza.
Zenia was my waitress and she did a great job. I came for the cacio e pepe, but she talked up the meatballs enough to pique my interest. She was willing to give me a smaller version of the meatball starter (essentially a side of two meatballs in sauce). She asked if it was okay if they were plated together and I requested that they be plated separately. I was brought some bread and olive oil to nosh on while waiting for my meal. The bread wasn't remarkable, but it did a find job of sopping up some of my leftover tomato sauce.
My food arrived extremely quickly and it looked beautiful. The pasta was terrific. The noodles were nicely al dente and that familiar black pepper taste was prominent. I ate it all. The meatballs were good, but didn't wow me. Which is fine, because I'll eat that pasta all day.
One of the most enjoyable parts of my dinner was being able to chat with the folks on the other side of the pizza bar making salads and pizzas. They were extremely friendly and happy to answer any questions that I had about their pizza oven and how they make their pizzas.
The next time I'm in town, I will happily make time to venture up the Mirage to chow down on the cacio e pepe at Osteria Costa. And I'll try the pizza.