Grocery
Tasted and Tested
When you're browsing at The Pasta Shop, you can be sure that every product you see has been given the stamp of approval from our buyers. We've tasted every product that earns a spot on our shelves and every product is there for a reason. Our mission is to bring you the best, most honest foods from around the world and right here in the Bay Area. When appropriate, we buy local or organic or artisanal, but we don't limit our selections to those - we understand that not all producers have the means to bring food to market that meets these criteria. What we do is promise to carry a variety of the best foods from the best sources and bring them to you with our knowledge and expertise.
We like to think that the pantry is where all good food begins. Whether you're adding spice to a tagine or vinegar to a salad, a well-stocked pantry ensures you'll always be able to take your food to new places.
Tradition meets Innovation
Our buyers have traveled extensively to find the newest and hottest ingredients, but it's those traditional foods about which we've just begun learning that interest us most. We're more interested in a pasta from Puglia, made for centuries, that's made from wheat that's been burnt before threshing than we are in the next super-fruit flavored yogurt.
Our choices are made based on a whole set of considerations, but here's a brief checklist we use:
- Taste - is it delicious?
- Clean - is it free of unneccessary preservatives, coloring agents or junk?
- Value - we don't look for the lowest-priced items, but we want to give you value. We look for the best example of any product in its price.
- Provenance - where does it come from? If it is traditionally made in Morocco, we'll try to find one from there.
- Packaging - is it over-packaged? Usually they're hiding something if that's the case.
- Local - if it's made in our foodshed, we want to bring it to you.
We're always learning and hope to bring you along for the ride.
