Cunetto House of Pasta   

5453 Magnolia Ave
St Louis, MO 63139
314-781-1135
www.cunetto.com

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Joe and Vince Cunetto were two brothers operating a pharmacy in St. Louis' famous Hill neighborhood when, in 1972, they decided to trade in the pill dispenser for the parsley grater and open up a restaurant. Since then, Cunetto's has been one of the stars in The Hill's constellation of highly popular Italian restaurants. The portions are overwhelming, and since they don't take reservations for dinner, you may want to stop in for lunch between 11AM and 2PM on weekdays to avoid one of St. Louis' longest waits. As the name suggests, pasta is the mainstay here, though Cunetto's does offer the obligatory Italian alternative entrees, including seafood and veal. There's even a special menu section for no-cholesterol, low-salt pastas, though entering The Hill with such restrictions in mind is like a recovering alcoholic walking through a brewery. Pasta highlights include the toasted ravioli and the linguini alla Pavarotti, described in the menu as ''linguini served with famous tenor's favorite sauce of anchovies, tomato, parsley and red pepper.'' And you don't have to be a globally renowned opera singer to afford it -- in keeping with Cunetto's generally moderate prices, entrees like this are typically less than $10. -- HW