Keepin' the Faith at Kebella's

Earlier this year, that didn't go so well for me.

Also earlier this year, Edmonds Patch reported on .

There is no link between the two incidents.

(Insert Law & Order "doink doink" sound)

Operated by Peter Stratiev and his wife, Petya, the former Romio's, on Edmonds Way, is now Kebella's Pizza & Pasta. The restaurant transitioned in response to the Romio’s franchise filing for bankruptcy. Though I never made it to Romio's, I was pleased to find both Peter and Petya front and center when I walked through Kebella’s doors this week.

The menu at Kebella’s is vast, with no less than 29 pizzas, 12 calzones, 17 pasta preparations and an impressive lists of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. There's even a five-item “Low Carb Menu List” for Atkins devotees masochistic enough to choose an Italian joint for dining. Special diets do get consideration at Kebella’s, with gluten-free and whole-wheat berry pizza crusts available.

Greek flavors pop up throughout Kebella’s list of lunch and dinner offerings, which boast Aegean appetizers like tiropeta, spanakopita and dolmades. The Ellada calzone ($10.85) and The Greek pizza (10” small for $11.85) both feature tzatziki, Gyro meat and a wealth of other Olympic ingredients.

Although Kebella’s presents a number of creative pizza concoctions, I was curious to see what they would do with the no-frills Mushroom Lover pie (10” small $11.85), described as “delicious double topping mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.” After being presented with my to-go order, I promptly wrapped the boxes in a Snuggie to incubate my dinner for traveling. The pleasant proprietors bid me adieu with enthusiastic waves as I loaded my bounty into my car.

Snicker at the Snuggie, but it makes a darn good pizza insulator. However, although the fleece retained the boxes' heat, it did not trap the delicious scents of baked dough and garlic. The drive home was very distracting in the olfactory sense.

True to its name, the Mushroom Lover pizza was a festival of fungi. Mushrooms were thick in the blanket of browned mozzarella. Red pizza sauce offered mild zest, the toppings conveyed by a thin, chewy crust. Though perhaps not extraordinary, the pizza was an enjoyable vegetarian dinner with simple, familiar flavors.

Kebella’s serves its pasta entrees with two pieces of garlic bread and a choice of soup, side salad or Caesar salad. I found the garlic bread to be well-buttered but thin, not so different from a supermarket shelf French roll. The lettuce in my Caesar salad teetered on the brink of being past its prime and the miniature croutons were the sort that should be reserved for stuffing poultry rather than topping a salad. A squeeze from the provided lemon wedge perked up the flavor of a dressing that seemed more a “creamy Italian” than a true Caesar.

Whereas its supporting cast was weak, the Tortellini Special ($12.95)  was satisfying. Rather lacking in garden peas, the dish had plenty of thinly-sliced ham to flavor the mild garlic cream sauce. Kebella's description of my plate offered a choice of cheese or spinach-filled tortellini and I pounced on the latter, only to find that my pasta dumplings were actually spinach dough with standard cheese filling. I would welcome a switch to actual spinach filling, as that twist—plus a few more of those elusive peas—would elevate this dish to one well-worth repeating.

My first foray into the Italian fare of Edmonds was lackluster. Kebella’s did well in restoring my faith in the local provision of pizza and pasta.