$13 at Raia's Italian Market
Where: Raia's Italian Market, 4500 Washington Avenue, 713-861-1042, www.raiasitalianmarket.com.
Photos by Olivia Flores Alvarez
What $13 gets you: We'd been driving by Raia's Italian Market for a while, always meaning to stop but never quite getting there. The steady stream of customers should have been a clue, but silly us, we always kept on driving. Finally we made a special point of dropping in, and we were well rewarded for our effort.
We had a little trouble settling on our order - not because the menu is unwieldy, but because everything sounded so good. Starters include shrimp and crab claws ($12), fried calamari with marinara ($7), and sausage and peppers grilled with onions ($7). Salads range from a simple house salad ($3.50) to a more robust Insalata Butera ($8).
The pizza combinations vary from the Primavera (chopped mixed veggies, garlic, and a marinara sauce for $8), to the Sicilian Wrangler (Italian sausage, pepperoni, jalapenos, onions, cheddar and mozzarella chesses, and barbecue sauce for $10), to the Rotunno (prosciutto di parma, arugula, mozzarella, reggiano, and marinara sauce for $12).
But we turned out attention to the pasta offerings. The blue crab ravioli (raviloli stuffed with peppers, onions, cheeses, and crab meat in a spicy crema rosa sauce for $15) was out of our budget; ditto the New Orleans (fettuccini pasta, shrimp, and crawfish in a spicy cream sauce topped with lump crab meat for $14). But there were plenty of choices that fit our $13 spending limit. I chose the lasagna (layers of pasta, ground beef, cheeses and marinara sauce, $8.50), and my dining partner went for the pomodoro (cappellini pasta with roasted tomatoes and basil sautéed in garlic and olive oil, $9).





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