I hate paying to eat pasta at a restaurant. This Carrboro spot changed my mind.
I’m a “pasta-out-of-the-box” kind of gal. From spaghetti bolognese to pesto rigatoni, I could eat it most nights — and often do — and be perfectly content.
So, call me thrifty, it’s not something I like to splash $20 a plate on.
That is, until I stumbled upon my little neighborhood eatery in downtown Carrboro: the 18-seat Italian restaurant Tesoro, meaning “treasure” in Italian and Spanish. The menu is seasonal, with French and Croatian influences.
Long overdue for a date night, I wanted some place cozy and intimate, but not too stuffy. We only had two hours; my teenage son was holding down the fort.
Because of the limited seating, I emailed two days ahead to book a table for two early one Saturday night. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
When we arrived, our waitress, a dead-ringer for a young “Fixer Upper” Joanna Gaines,” sat us promptly.
“Have you been here before?” she asked breezily, setting the tone for the night.
The restaurant’s vibe is casual and airy. As the sun sets, the dining room is bathed in a soft summer light.
We’re not the only ones wanting fresh pasta. A line has already started forming outside the door for walk-ins.
A hole in the wall
Tesoro opened in late 2021, tucked away at 110 E. Weaver St., just across from Weaver Street Market. It’s little more than a hole in the wall: open kitchen, polished concrete floors, one long banquette. A marble-topped six-person bar sits on the opposite wall.
For starters, we ordered a small plate of olives ($6) and the house-made foccacia bread ($6). From where we sat, I had a direct view into the kitchen, and could watch as the bread was pulled from the oven.
Within milliseconds, it was in front of us, still piping hot and utter perfection: crispy and golden on the top and bottom crusts with a fluffy inside. Tons of air holes, big and small.
Next up: Rigatoni with Spring Onion Sausage, Tomato, Ricotta Salata ($23) and Spaghetti with Basil Pesto and Grana Padano ($21). The rigatoni was warm and hearty and loaded with spicy sausage. It served as the perfect contrast to the spaghetti: a bundle of silky noodles slathered in punchy-green pesto that melted in your mouth.
Chef and owner David Peretin, 32, who cooks most nights, says he works with the Durham-based meat co-op, Firsthand Foods, sourcing local sustainable meat for his dishes.
“Even in our small space, we butcher half a hog every other week,” he tells The News & Observer. “That’s kind of like our starting point, more or less, for the whole menu.”
Homegrown chef
Peretin’s restaurant career began as a dishwasher at The Fearrington House Restaurant, one of the Triangle’s fine-dining destinations. Eventually, he ended up working at some of the Triangle’s most ambitious, yet casual restaurants, like Rose’s Noodles, Dumplings and Sweets and Saint James Seafood in Durham and Pizzeria Mercato in Carrboro, before striking out on his own.
Peretin says he decided to build on what he’d already learned, while adding some of the formative flavors of his youth: Croatian dishes made by his grandparents. The result is his own twist on classics, like cacio e pepe and spaghetti pomodoro, that “sing together.”
Beyond the menu, however, he wants Tesoro to be a local gathering place.
“Going out to eat can be a very communal, enriching experience,” he says. “I want people to feel value for their time.”
For a two-hour (timed) date night, I must say, I left satisfied.
Tesoro is at 110 E. Weaver St. in Carrboro, open 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Visit their website at tesorocarrboro.com.
This story was originally published July 5, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
