The 1989 version was a casual cafe with cutting-edge pastas (like black-bean pasta with walnut sauce), a glistening antipasto array and olive oil and balsamic vinegar bottles on the tables.
I told them I wanted a high-protein vegan meal, and they sent me all the ingredients for white-bean pasta with marinara sauce, along with a wig in the style of a pageboy haircut.
Top with almonds, serve with rice and beans, pasta or tortillas.
There were enough staples — grains, rice, beans, pasta, powdered drinks, trail mix — to keep us from starvation, even in an emergency.
And boy does she like what she sees: a shopping bag bursting with tinned beans, pasta and the rest: 25 items, for a total of £6.25.
In a large soup pot, combine all of the ingredients except the canned beans, pasta and black pepper and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Thick bean soups scented with rosemary, braised beans, pasta with cured pork and pecorino, artichokes cooked in ingenious ways, greens tossed with olive oil, offal – often the stuff of uneasy merriment – coaxed into deliciousness.
"This is the Bar do Bin Laden," he proclaimed as he grilled steaks for his signature dish, a mountain of food on a plate that includes rice, beans, pasta and meat.
I've only been twice in six months, but the half-price deals on catering-size packs of marmalade, tea, coffee, rice, beans, pasta, fruit juice, tinned tomatoes and pulses have slashed my shopping bill.
I would have to make bread daily, so I stocked up on flour, storing it along with supplies of rice, beans, pasta, etc. in plastic air-tight containers.
