Patrono, a popular Italian restaurant in downtown OKC, is adding lunch service to its business hours beginning Nov. 7. General Manger Robert Painter said the staffing has finally reached a level at which they are prepared for four additional services.
“We’ve had the plan to do this for a while, but you want to make sure your staff is large enough to accommodate the extra hours,” Painter says.
The menu features five pastas and five sandwiches, as well as three salads – including antipasto – and soup. In addition to lunch portions of pastas from the dinner menu, executive chef Jonathan Krell has added orecchiette with house-made salsa verde.
“We didn’t just want to duplicate the dinner menu with reduced portions,” Krell explains, “we wanted to add some new items and new flavors – and one of my favorite sandwiches is on there, too.”
The “Chef’s Favorite” is a toasted English muffin with scrambled eggs, capicola and a remarkable horseradish hollandaise. Keeping with the traditional Italian vibe, the sandwich menu also includes a meatball with basil aioli and mozzarella. Lighter appetites will likely gravitate toward the mushroom toast with a poached egg and herbed cheeses.
The mushroom toast is not the only vegetarian option on the menu. The new orecchiette dish is vegetarian, and some other dishes can be so modified, as well.
“We kept the menu small because we wanted to focus on quality and efficiency,” Painter says.
Part of that convenience includes opening for lunch at 10:30 a.m., and given the prevalence of eggs on the menu, diners might even treat it as late breakfast. Patrono will be open for lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. The full bar is available during lunch service, and the popular dinner bread service will be available for a small charge. Reservations are recommended.
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