Are You Up Fot The Challenge

Padrino 111 Main Street Milford 965-0100

Anyone who has ever seen Gordon Ramsey’s shows knows how much Gordon emphasizes 3 things... fresh, fresher and freshest. Ingredients are key, no other factor can compare or replace it.
Padrino has fresh. Lots of it. Gordon would likely nod in approval to Padrino’s simple menu, fresh ingredients and overall quality. That’s saying a lot.
The menu is simple yet well equipped. . It features well rounded selections and several vegetarian entree and sandwich selections aside from pizza.
Six starters, one soup, five salads, nine sandwiches, ten gourmet pizzas and a 4 pound Spaghetti Challenge all fit on a folded 8.5 x 11 glossy paper menu. At under $17 for entrees & pizza, under $9 for the sandwiches & salads and $6 or less for appetizers it also fits in your budget, for lunch or an evening out.
The attention here is not on a eight page listing of every Italian dish every copied in America as you commonly see. The focus is on freshness and it shows in the flavor.
The food has an obvious chef flair because it’s chef driven. Chef Paul Barraco, (chef of 20 brix next door) also has his spoons in the pots at Padrino. It’s Padrino’s good fortune to serve under the same flag as 20 brix. The little Italian bistro borrows much of their quality stock from the 20 brix coffers. Including the wine. When the flavor of the red is as important to you as the marinara, Padrino will please.
The spirits continue at the bar. Full service and fully stocked it’s quite capable of handling several large football parties. With $6 wings and cold top quality brew during the games expect to see wall to wall orange and black. The appetizers alone will probably bring most folks back.

Here’s two examples of Padrino’s fine product. A white pizza ($9). A lusciously creamy whole milk ricotta cheese blend with fresh mushrooms and pepperoncini. Simple yet so satisfying. The crust is buttery, it snaps on the edges but retains a soft chew. First rate dough cooked fast and hot. Perfect.
The second is the roasted vegetable open face melt ($7). Think of it as French bread pizza. Thick slices of eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash atop grilled garlic bread with a slash of marinara. Kick in the extra $1.50 for the Parmesan fries. The kettle chips are good but the fries really make it a meal. A delicious meal. Especially for a vegetarian option. Padrino has enough other veggie choices to be considered “veggie friendly” in our book.

Will they start stealing Ferrari’s patrons? Maybe. Will they jar their fresh made marinara and get rich? Maybe. Will they serve you a meal that exceeds your expectations? Certainly.
Padrino’s Spaghetti Challenge sounds interesting. It’s 2 lbs. of pasta, 1 lb. of meatballs 1 lb. of marinara and garlic knots.
There is a 45 minute time limit and no leaving the table. They don’t appreciate “returns” either. Finishers will walk out with a T-shirt, a photo on the wall of fame and the $30 bill taken care of.
What happens after that is your (and your plumbers) problem. If you plan on taking Padrino up on their challenge send us an invite, we’d like to bear witness and snap a photo, maybe even a video of your ordeal to post on our site.
You don’t have to be up for a gut busting exercise to get your money’s worth at Padrino. They’re quality conscience far more than most yet maintain prices for the budget conscience. That’s a true bistro.