lunch at capricciosa.

i don't usually have a lunch break until after 1:30, which doesn't leave much time or choice for me if i want to eat someplace un-diner-y and fastfoody. one of the regular places on rotation is capricciosa, a japanese chain of italian restaurants, albeit italian food for asian tastes: ital-yen.

the newest link in the chain is at the renovated agaña shopping center. i currently like this one the best as it is casual, less crowded, and bigger than the other locations (pacific place and the royal orchid). it also has a very nice patio dining area, even though no one ever eats there because duh, it's outside. it's hot. there are bugs. and it overlooks a parking lot. but it's still nice. maybe it's nicer at night.


capricciosa patio
 

the prices can scare people off--the average entree price is $15--but the portions are huge--one serving of pasta can easily serve four normal people, or two guambats (and a microphone). you can have a very substantial meal of several courses for under $25 for 2 (or 3. or 4. depending on how many stomachs you have.). the restaurant is beginning to introduce lunch specials that are smaller portions at just a penny under $10, so you don't have to be tempted by the heaving mounds o' carbs.

julius decided to try the special, which included his choice of soup or caesar salad as a starter and possibly an iced tea (we're not sure--he says no, i say yes; in any case, he had a lemonade). he got the caesar salad, and i swear i took a photo of it but it disappeared, so you'll have to settle for a photo of the pasta, which had a very long name that listed all the ingredients which are penne with a tomato-pesto sauce, mixed bell peppers, spinach, and beef:


pasta special 

it was herby and tomato-y, and every single flavour of every ingredient was present. which isn't necessarily a good thing, but since it wasn't a giant portion, it was easily dealt with. we also decided to split an order of chicken diavolo--lightly breaded chicken breast strips, served with the house remoulade, which is sort of a chunky vegetable cream dressing:


chicken diavolo 

like a rather elegant chicken nugget in obscene proportions. i am avoiding carbs, so i had the tuna-calamari salad, which is canned tuna and calamari strips marinated in an olive oil vinaigrette over lettuce and tastes way better than it looks:


tuna calamari salad 

of course, we were totally stuffed, which left no room for dessert. if you go, you should try the pumpkin pie, which sounds odd, but is really, really good.

capricciosa
agaña shopping center, town house side.
646-1009/10/12