5 places to get great lasagna

Italian comfort food comes in layers

If trouble comes in waves, then comfort comes in layers: pasta, cheese, sauce, meat, repeat.

Lasagna can inspire people to rise above their fear of going out during the COVID-19 pandemic. All the restaurants in this report have opened their dining rooms, and for most, the flow of customers felt like business as usual — except for the blocked-off tables, the single-serve condiments, the paper menus, the masks and the rivers of hand sanitizer.

And because not everyone’s comfortable sitting around strangers right now, each one of these places also will bring food to your car for curbside service. Lasagna will not be denied. And at all five of these San Antonio Italian food destinations, it’s undeniably good.

Aldino at The Vineyard

More than any place on this list, the pandemic procedures seem most out of place at Aldino, a stylish room where Roman columns and Sistine-style murals aesthetically clash with surgical masks and paper packets of salt and pepper. But Aldino gets it, demonstrated not just by the waiters with gloves but by the numbered parking spaces outside for curbside pickup.

Lasagna ($17) at Aldino is a baked-in experience, one you’ll wait a few extra minutes for as it finishes broiling to order. The flavors and textures marry together for an experience with equal parts lush indulgence and bright tomato flash. I’ll also recommend spinach-and-veal ravioli with a duo of pesto and tomato cream sauces.

1203 N. Loop 1604 W., 210-3400000, aldinos.com. Dine-in, curbside and third-party delivery available.

Capparelli’s on Main

In business since 2001, the interior of this Monte Vista Italian restaurant looks like a theme park piazza, with awnings and staircases and tables scattered around the space catching light from the windows facing North Main. Even with the pandemic precautions, there’s an air of festive kitsch, overseen by a mural of Italian movie stars.

The beauty of lasagna here is the variety. There’s the red kind, of course, with a sharper, spicier profile created by sliced meatballs, sausage, mushrooms, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses ($12.99 lunch, $15.99 dinner). But there’s also a rich and creamy chicken Alfredo version, layered with spinach, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and cheese ($14.99 lunch, $16.99 dinner). Both are served with side salads and garlic bread.

2524 N. Main Ave., 210-7355757, capparellisonmain.com. Dine-in, curbside and third-party delivery available.

La Nostra Famiglia Trattoria

The pandemic has tested La Nostra Famiglia chef Kim Van Winkle. Furloughed from her job at the Southtown Italian restaurant Battalion, she sold homemade enchilada family meals on social media until Battalion brought her back. Then restaurateur Arturo Sanchez scooped her up to lead the kitchen at La Nostra, which opened this month on Blanco Road.

Not to spoil the ending, but she passed the test. Lasagna at La Nostra is a classic combination of meaty, creamy Bolognese sauce, al dente sheets of pasta and lots of melting cheese in a generous baking dish for $16.

Equally promising is a fullflowered artichoke stuffed with risotto and crispy-skin salmon with capers over fettuccine and one of the prettiest charcuterie boards in the city, all executed in a cool, intimate room with a soft glow and red checkered tablecloths.

14357 Blanco Road, 210-4088022, Facebook: La Nostra Famiglia Trattoria. Dine-in and curbside available.

La Sorrentina Italian Restaurant

Chef Pepe Rangel opened La Sorrentina eight years ago, the culmination of a kitchen life that started in Chicago when he was 17. The restaurant across from St. Mary’s University on the West Side isn’t much bigger than a family dining room, but it’s the setting for lasagna with rich, complex flavors that incorporates beef, Italian sausage and a trio of Italian cheeses.

For $10.95, it’s served with garlic bread and soup or salad, the best value in this report. Cross your fingers for a shot at cheese tortellini soup with a complex stock like chicken soup for the pandemic-weary soul.

3330 Culebra Road, 210-5490889, lasorrentinasa.com. Dinein, curbside and third-party delivery available.

Scuzzi’s Italian Restaurant

I’m pretty sure the couple in the middle of the dining room at Scuzzi’s was on a first date. The glow of possibility hovered around them, fed by the croon of the Rat Pack soundtrack and Scuzzi’s Italian supper club ambiance. Dating is hard enough, but pandemic dating? All I can say is find someone who looks at you the way we look at lasagna.

At Scuzzi’s, lasagna looks like architecture, stacked high with firm pasta, beef, ricotta, mozzarella and tomato sauce ($18). It’s all about execution, not innovation. Comfort, not creativity.

For that, look to pan-fried Shrimp Scuzzi’s in garlic lemon butter or Oysters Mazi baked with pancetta and mozzarella, a variation on oysters Rockefeller named for owner Mazi Enti, who opened Scuzzi’s on Loop 1604 in 2008.

4035 N. Loop 1604 W., Suite 102, 210-493-8884; 24165 W. Interstate 10 Frontage Road, Suite 433, 210-549-1266; scuzzisitalianrestaurant.com. Dine-in, curbside and third-party delivery available.

Photos by Mike Sutter / Staff Lasagna incorporates meat ragu, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses at Aldino at The Vineyard on Blanco Road. Other options include spinach and veal ravioli with pesto and tomato cream sauces and a side salad.

Beef, Italian sausage and three cheeses make up the lasagna at La Sorrentina Italian Restaurant on Culebra Road.

Lasagna incorporates beef, tomato sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses at Scuzzi's Italian Restaurant on Loop 1604.

Lasagna Bolognese incorporates tomato sauce with beef at the new La Nostra Famiglia Trattoria on Blanco Road.

Lasagna brings comfort in layers for troubled times, like this traditional meat-and-tomato-sauce lasagna at Capparelli's.