Grab your stretchiest pants, because Grassa is here.

The pasta-centric, counter-service restaurant project from Lardo's Rick Gencarelli opened on Wednesday, June 12 with a menu of freshly made pastas and sides in the sunny space next to Lardo's downtown location. We have the exclusive first look inside—simply click through to our slide show above.

Grassa's kitchen is manned by Ian Hutchings, a farm-obsessed veteran of Corvallis's lauded Luc, who's responsible for churning out dozens of varieties of fresh pasta daily (think radiator-shaped radiatore, elegantly twisted strozzapreti, straw-like bucatini, and frilly-lipped shells of gigli).

In our recent interview with Hutchings, the chef shared some details on Grassa's fun tools: "We have an Emilio Mitidieri pasta extruder and sheeter. The sheeter looks like a pasta roller on steroids, but the beauty machine is the P3 extruder—it turns semolina and water into amazing shapes by forcing it through brass dies. We've been playing around with it and it's amazing the amount and types of pasta we can produce."

In addition to the carb fest, Grassa's menu boasts dishes like antipasti salads with Olympic Provisions meats and local peppers, fried calamari and fennel, pork meatballs, and Italian-inspired vegetable sides.

For those of you wondering, yes, Grassa means fat in Italian, another nod to Gencarelli's Lardo legacy. That begs the question: what will be the name of his next lipophilic eatery? Tell us your ideas in the comments.

Grassa
1205 SW Washington St