No Fooling: These Eagle Rock Pastas Don't Grow on Trees

Forecast for Friday, April 1st: Expect an onslaught of prank calls, with a sprinkling of fake emergencies and a chance of rearranged offices.

Yes, it’s April Fool’s Day—the holiday revered by hucksters and practical jokers.

No matter how creative your friends get, however, it’s unlikely they’ll top one of the great public hoaxes of all time perpetrated in 1957 by no less than that bastion of English respectability: the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The BBC’s documentary-style clip shows Swiss “spaghetti farmers” harvesting strands of a “bumper spaghetti crop,” thanks to a mild winter and the elimination of a bug—the “dreaded spaghetti weevil.” The uniformly sized strands of spaghetti, the spoof documentary proposed, was the result of years of breeding by spaghetti farmers. (See the accompanying video.)

Precisely why the April Fool’s hoax worked remains a mystery. Perhaps it was because spaghetti wasn’t a household staple in post-World War II England and was only sold in tin cans. Perhaps it was because television was so new that people believed everything they saw on TV.  Or maybe British viewers couldn’t fathom that the serious news program Panorama and revered newscaster Richard Dimbleby—Britain’s equivalent of Walter Cronkite—would participate in a spoof on such a grand scale. Whatever the reason, droves of Englishmen and women called the BBC to inquire how they could get spaghetti trees. The BBC’s deadpan reply? “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

Don’t want to wait for your spaghetti tree to grow? In honor of the BBC’s April Fool’s Day hoax, Eat/Drink/See Eagle Rock presents pasta picks from around the neighborhood.

Order with confidence—the suggestions below are no joke. (Whatever you do, don’t be swayed by any promises of pasta-sprouting trees.)

If you’re craving pasta but want something light on the palate as well as the wallet, order from Bellissimo Cafe’s “Mix and Match Your Own Pasta” menu: Choose from six pastas and eight sauces, including Gambori with Shrimp and the meaty, rarely-offered Rossini.

Brownstone is beloved by fans of thin crust, NY-style, fold ’n eat slices of “pie,” so it’s no surprise that the pizzeria also does a great job with traditional, red-checkered-tablecloth-style pasta offerings as well. The Baked Ziti is like Mama used to make.

Chef/owner Camilo Gonzales has a particularly deft touch with bold and fiery flavors—whether the dish is Latin or Mediterranean, Camilo knows how to temper the heat and the spice. His Penne Chipotle (with two kinds of chiles) and bold Pasta Putanesca (capers, olives, and garlic) are sophisticated choices for a special dinner.

The twins who own the Capri are still tweaking the menu in the wake of Gordon Ramsey’s “Kitchen Nightmare” makeover, but their baked lasagna-with-a-kick and fresh, light take on Eggplant Parmesan—think thin strips of herb-and-crumb-dusted eggplant over rotelli instead of slabs baked in red sauce—are a dream.

Casa Bianca Pizza Pie: This Eagle Rock icon has been making its famous-all-over-town pizzas since 1955—but they’ve also been making pasta that long. Try the stick-to-your-ribs Pasta Al’Forno made with meat, cheese and a mixture of pastas for the Italian food of your childhood.

If “healthy comfort food” trumps “traditional Italian” in your pick of pastas, Coffee Table Bistro’s full-of-veggies Cajun Chicken Pasta and Salmon with Pesto—a deliciously different almond cilantro pesto!—will be your new virtuous vices.

 Old Blue Eyes would approve of the steak, martinis and the pasta at this retro steakhouse, not to mention the made-to-order Alfredo sauce with your choice of pasta or the spaghetti with red or white sauce and plenty of clams.

This kid-friendly pizza joint caters to adult tastes as well. While the kids munch pizza and ogle the multiple license plates lining the walls, parents can savor one of the three, delicious pasta choices: Spaghetti-and-meatballs with a tang, penne with creamy pesto, or fettuccine with Alfredo sauce.