As soon as the temperatures sank below freezing last week, I started craving the pasta Bolognese at Giacomo's. It's my go-to grown-up version of the spaghetti and meat sauce that warmed and comforted me as a kid in my mother's winter kitchen, hanging around the big Paul Revere skillet she used on our mint-green electric stove, breathing in the scents of tomato and garlic, ground beef and onion.
I took that treasured recipe off to college with me, where the carbs and the tantalizing aromas soothed the occasional bout of homesickness. In the fullness of time, I learned that my all-American version of spaghetti sauce was very different from its Italian model: the ragu Bolognese simmered with a finer mince of varied meats and vegetables, smoothed out with a bit of cream or milk, fortified with a little wine, touched with tomato rather than swamped with it. I fell in love all over again.
Today, my favorite Houston Bolognese is the version Lynette Hawkins uses on flat ribbons of tagliatelle made in-house at Giacomo's, her friendly trattoria on a corner where Upper Kirby borders River Oaks. With its mix of pork and beef, its earthy current of carrot and onion, it's more finely tuned than the sauce I grew up with, but every bit as much of a soul-soother on a cold, miserable night.
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You can get a $9 half order, and I always start out thinking, "Yeah, I'll have that," before cratering and getting a whole $16 plateful.
Even that never feels like quite enough because the Bolognese is so good. I love the slight bite of the thin noodles; the interesting selection of mostly Italian wines Hawkins maintains to go along; and oh, yes, the sprightly Insalata di Tre Cavoli that's made for the wintry months. It's a gorgeous chiffonade of brassicas - raw Brussels sprouts, kale and Savoy cabbage, all dressed with Banyuls vinegar and tart verjus, all as clean and sparkling as you please. At six bucks, it's a bargain.
You'll need dessert, of course. This month, Hawkins seasonal offering is a soft, dense-crumbled almond cake spangled with blood orange on top, served with vanilla bean gelato and a sweet/tart blood orange syrup. It's very fine, and as a bonus, your purchase benefits the Rescued Pets Movement, a cause dear to Hawkins' heart.
When I finally departed Giacomo's last Wednesday night, the temperature had dropped below freezing again and the roads had started to ice up. I didn't care. I had had a Bolognese attitude adjustment that lasted all the way home, and then some.