One highly anticipated new restaurant, serving up fresh and affordable pasta in the Inner Richmond, is perhaps as quintessential a neighborhood restaurant as San Francisco has to offer.

Pasta Supply Co., at 236 Clement St., is a new venture from celebrated chef Anthony Strong. The immediate attention grabber might be the deli display cases chock full of hand-cut pastas, for those looking to buy fresh pasta to cook at home. But the restaurant just started dinner service, much to my delight and that of my co-workers, who have been stalking the restaurant’s Instagram for months. Now, patrons can experience Strong’s tremendous cooking skills (previously perfected at Locanda and Prairie, as well as with the Delfina Restaurant Group) as much as his fresh pasta, which he apparently learned from real nonnas, i.e., grandmothers, in Italy.

In the middle of a block featuring a laundry service, a toy store, an eclectic art showroom and other small businesses — it neighbors the long-vacant Busvan for Bargains space — the exterior of the black-painted building is fairly basic. “Pasta Supply Co” is painted in white block letters above the black awning. Large windows allow passersby to glimpse the glorious deli counter featuring over 10 different types of handmade noodles at a time, such as the well-known bucatini or rigatoni but also lesser-known shapes like creste di gallo and casarecce. When you walk in, the pasta counter is to the left, and the dining room, featuring about a dozen two- and four-top tables, is on the right. You’re immediately greeted by servers wearing white frocks, which we’ll call pasta lab coats, who ask you how you’re doing and if you’re there for dinner or to buy pasta from the counter. Naturally, I was there for dinner.

When I arrived with a friend around 5:30 p.m. on the first Friday of dinner service, the place was bustling but not overly crowded. A server gave us a menu to look over, and we ordered while waiting for our table (the restaurant doesn’t take reservations). When we were next in line, the nice server asked us if we were “Beau and Betty.” We were not, but we said that we wished we were. For the rest of the night, whenever our server checked on us, he called us Beau and Betty. We all laughed each time for his commitment to the bit.

The food came out extremely fast. In fact, we received our house salad, topped with parmesan cheese and fried breadcrumbs, before our bottle of vinho verde was even delivered. When it did arrive, the bright notes of Granny Smith apple washed down the lemon-dressed leafy greens and nutty parmesan notes magnificently.

A selection of dishes from Pasta Supply Co., on Clement Street, clockwise from top left: a house greens salad with parmesan and fried bread crumbs in a lemon-based dressing; mafaldine with butter and cheese; maltagliati pesto pasta; for dessert, Pasta Supply Co. offers two panna cotta options, with one featuring grapefruit slices and pink peppercorn. (Nico Madrigal-Yankowski/SFGATE)
A selection of dishes from Pasta Supply Co., on Clement Street, clockwise from top left: a house greens salad with parmesan and fried bread crumbs in a lemon-based dressing; mafaldine with butter and cheese; maltagliati pesto pasta; for dessert, Pasta Supply Co. offers two panna cotta options, with one featuring grapefruit slices and pink peppercorn. (Nico Madrigal-Yankowski/SFGATE)

Just as we had finished the salad, the pastas started to arrive. It was time for the main attraction. 

First up was a pesto pasta. The maltagliati noodles were wide, flat, ribbed with tiny triangles on the sides and folded over each other into a small pile, creating some thin bites and some thicker bites. The basil pesto was a luxurious, deep green and smooth on the tongue, while pine nuts dotted the dish like pearls. After adding a touch of chili flakes, the whole experience was like finding a pile of Persian silk rugs in a warehouse — you knew this was the moment your life was about to get a lot better.

Next was a simple bowl of mafaldine pasta with butter and cheese. Mafaldine is a long ribbon noodle with curvy edges that evokes, perhaps, an eel swimming through the ocean. It’s a great pasta for stringy cheese to cling around the edges and for melted butter to slither along the flat part, like a slip ‘n’ slide. Totally nostalgic. There was only a dash of pepper on top — I wished it had a bit more punch. That said, it reminded me of my childhood and the bowls of hot, butter-laced farfalle and melted parmesan my mom always made for me when I rejected her tofu and vegetable dishes. Eating Strong’s butter and cheese mafaldine, I had that same feeling of being cared for and understood, and that’s part of what makes Pasta Supply Co. such a neighborhood restaurant. It evokes that same warmth and kindness that feels natural and keeps you coming back.

For the grand finale — more butter. We ordered the lobster butter spaghetti — and added the 6-ounce lobster tail smeared with housemade Calabrian chili XO relish. If there was ever an uber-decadent pasta dish, this was it. It had spice. It had umami. It had buttery unctuousness that enveloped each and every al dente noodle. It was like a spicier version of a vodka sauce, but it wasn’t creamy and it was more complex. It’s a pasta that, even without the addition of the lobster tail, still has my heart. Since the orange-colored, Calabrian chili butter sauce had plenty of bits and pieces of lobster in it, I could eat it every day and it would never get old.

To top off the meal, there were two panna cotta dessert options — one with chocolate, Earl Grey and caramel flavors, and another with olive oil, fresh grapefruit and pink peppercorns. We chose the latter but probably would have been happy with either one. The olive oil version was refreshing, especially after finishing off the rich flavors of the spaghetti in lobster butter. The vanilla bean-like cream was topped with slightly tart slices of grapefruit, which balanced the dessert. And the pink peppercorns provided a tingly bite. All in all, it was a cherry-on-top kind of ending to the meal. It made me want to come back for more.

Perhaps the best part of Pasta Supply Co. was the price tag. Rarely do you find a bowl of pasta for less than $22 in San Francisco. The mafaldine was $14, the pesto maltagliati was $15, and the lobster butter spaghetti, at $22, was the most expensive food item on the entire menu ($30 with the addition of the lobster tail).

Pasta Supply Co. is meant for families, friends, first dates, first anniversaries, 60th anniversaries and anything in between. It brings joy in each bite and creates community with every seating. My friend and I will definitely be returning, and it wouldn’t surprise me if our server says, “Welcome back, Beau and Betty! We missed you.”

Pasta Supply Co., 236 Clement St., San Francisco. Open daily for dinner 5-9 p.m.