It's been a long time since we have been to Poor Italian, and I decided that I was due for a revisit. We started off our lunch with an appetizer of Calamari Fritti. The deep-fried calamari was paired nicely with a mild Mediterranean salsa. Just add a squirt of lemon and you're set. I would have liked the calamari to be a bit more crispy, but my parents enjoyed it, just the way it was. 
We couldn't decide between the various pastas so we decided to share a few of them. My mom prefers seafood, so for her, we picked the Linguine alle Vongole. The sauce of white wine, garlic & EVOO was light enough for the delicate flavours of the clams. My mom loved it. 
Their housemade pasta of Paccheri con Salsiccia was my stepdad's choice. Large tubes of housemade pasta were tossed with mild sausages, San Marzano tomatoes and peppers. It was all topped with fresh basil & some sundried tomatoes, and made for a very well-rounded dish. The pasta was done perfectly, with a good bit of toothsomeness. It turned out to be my favourite. 
I picked the Pappardelle al Ragu D’agnello because I was craving a good lamb ragout. This was a simple dish with just noodles tossed with a San Marzano Tomato sauce and braised lamb. The pasta seemed a bit overdone here, but the flavours were good. Because the pasta is a bit thinner than the paccheri, it might have been done just fine, but just more tender that I would have preferred.
Now, we normally don't do this, but we were having such a nice time together that we decided to stretch out the luncheon just a bit longer with dessert. I'm not a sweets fan, so we opted for the Lemon Ripieno, which is just a lemon sorbetto in a lemon shell. My mom loved the sorbet and the tanginess was just perfect. Although we normally come here for dinner, but for a leisurely lunch, this is a great option too. 
