New Pasta Pop-Up Opens for Takeout and Delivery in Grand Rapids

Been craving pasta? A new takeout and delivery pop-up pasta restaurant is now open  in Grand Rapids.

WZZM-13 reports that Pasta Pronto is a "ghost kitchen" operating out of New Hotel Mertens at 35 Oakes St. SW downtown Grand Rapids.

All their pastas are made fresh in-house and each order serves up to two people. Pasta Pronto also offers make-at-home pasta kits. The pastas themselves are vegan and all sauces are gluten-free.

Pasta Pronto shared on Facebook are officially open as of today, May 20, and available on Grubhub for delivery and Open Dining for curbside pickup.

Pasta Pronto's "Pesto Creste de Gallo" (pictured at top) sounds delicious, with “rooster crest” pasta, basil pesto, and crunchy green beans

They've got "Mama's Gravy" for the meat-lovers: a  red tomato pork sauce made from ribs and sausage, served with two whole sausage links.

Pasta Pronto also serves bruschetta, salad, and Zeppole for dessert: A sweet ricotta-filled pastry with powdered sugar and an amarena cherry garnish.

Check out their full menu here.

Mertens Hospitality opened another pop-up recently, 9th Street Steaks, which specializes in handmade cheesesteaks.

Anthony Tangorra, owner of Merten's Hospitality, tells WZZM-13 that both concepts were planned previously, but the coronavirus pandemic sped everything up:

"This crisis happened and all of a sudden we had excess capacity in our kitchens and acceleration of need for takeout and delivery. So, we just took those concepts we’ve been working on and accelerated them, while trying to hold the fort down in a business that was sort of crumbling around us."

Tangorra says when New Hotel Mertens opens back up, the plan is to find a new space for the pop-ups.

Pasta Pronto's hours on GrubHub are listed as Monday- Sunday 11:00a.m.–10:00p.m.