As you might have guessed from my recent posts about Houston's terrific ravioli and tortellini offerings, I'm on a bit of a pasta kick. Some readers rightfully pointed out that neither of my Top 5 lists included anything from Fabio's Fresh Pasta, and in truth their exclusion was due only to my own ignorance.

Given that Fabio's is located just a stone's throw away from my house, I know I must have passed it on numerous occasions. But my eyes failed to take notice of its rather understated black-and-gray sign. No patrons spilling out the doors and few cars in the parking lot also perhaps make Fabio's easy to miss.

Fabio's offers extremely limited sit-down dining (i.e., one table) but most people, myself included, venture in to buy the takeout pasta made daily in-house. Varieties of fettuccine and spaghetti (plain egg, spinach, basil, jalapeño) are available as well as more complicated types of stuffed pastas such as ravioli (cheese, spinach, lobster!), tortellini (smoked duck!) and mezzaluna (eggplant! chicken!). Fabio's also conveniently sells marinara, pesto and alfredo sauces that you can use to dress your pasta at home.

All of the aforementioned is reasonably priced considering it's hand-prepared and made with quality ingredients. Sorry if you won't pay more than $2 a jar for red sauce that's loaded with sugar and preservatives. This story continues on the next page.