Pulito Osteria is the work of Chef Chaz Lindsay who grew up nearby.  After studying at the Culinary Institute of America he worked at numerous kitchens including NYC’s Eleven Madison Park and then headed to Rome, Italy to study Italian cuisine.   Now all the pastas at Pulito are made in house and Chef Lindsay combines these Italian dishes with a southern twist to make the food wonderful.  He learned in Italy that dishes don’t have to be complex and instead concentrate on the quality of the ingredients.  It’s a large place with both outdoor and several rooms of indoor dining.  You can see the kitchen from the entry room and the large pizza oven.  Tables and booths come in a variety of sizes with no tablecloths, music in the background and fairly bright lighting.  Service was friendly and efficient with several daily specials offered.  It was hands down my favorite dining experience in Jackson and hope you’ll get to go when in the area.

Set-up

Food

The Caesar Salad is mixed with anchovies, breadcrumbs and parmesan.  We saw a number of them going out while waiting to be seated and I now know why.  The nicely dressed Romaine leaves have a final dusting of parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs.   This is genius – no large croutons to fight over and that buttery bread crisp in every bite.  That and good parmesan and anchovies made for a memorable Caesar salad.

The orecchiette was dressed with pancetta and n’duja ragu, calabrian chili, smoked ricotta salata and pistachios.  It was nicely spicy and really tasty.  The perfectly cooked pasta had a delightful depth of flavor to the sauce and fun crunchiness from toasted pistachios.  This was a real favorite.

The mushroom lasagna included ricotta, mozzarella, nature creek mushrooms and a black truffle demi.  This was layers of lovely pasta with tons of cheese and tasty mushrooms with a red sauce and then finally a dusting of truffles.  It had a crispy edge and wonderful flavor.

Some speckled butter beans were an usual side to see offered and we snapped up a bowl.  They were mixed with shreds fo meat and a wonderful amount of spiciness.  These really did have a fabulous depth of flavor and I kept going back to the bowl for a few more.

Iva’s chocolate chess pie was topped with chocolate shavings and whipped cream in a thick buttery crust.  We saw our neighbors get it and had to have one too.  It was named for chef’s grandmother as it was her recipe and also a favorite of our server.  Another good choice.  The sticky rich filling was lovely with the light cream and buttery crust.  The only ding was that the crust was pretty thick in places and hard to cut – but it was worth the trouble.