Love of food brings pasta makers to Warren

Prica Farina — fresh pasta, cheese and charcuterie shop — expected to open in a few weeks

By Ted Hayes
Posted 3/27/18

David and Priscilla Strenio have a lifelong love affair with food. They talk of it in revered tones and their eyes light up when describing how a perfect meal can soothe the body and soul. In about …

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Love of food brings pasta makers to Warren

Prica Farina — fresh pasta, cheese and charcuterie shop — expected to open in a few weeks

Posted

David and Priscilla Strenio have a lifelong love affair with food. They talk of it in revered tones and their eyes light up when describing how a perfect meal can soothe the body and soul. In about two weeks, their version of perfection will come to Warren, when they open Prica Farina Fresh Handcrafted Pasta, a fresh pasta, cheese and charcuterie shop, at 2 Market St.

“Our dream was always to have our own little shop that had something to do with food,” he said Friday, three days after the Warren Town Council approved his request to open. “Everything we want to have in the store are things that we love and want to share with our customers.”

Mr. Strenio, a native of Peabody, Mass., has been making fresh pasta since he was a kid. He was a latchkey child and some of his earliest memories are of going through his mom’s cookbook after getting home from school, and experimenting.

“I was always looking through books, watching Julia Child,“ he said.

His passion turned into his career and he later worked as a chef in some of the northeast’s most prestigious kitchens, including the Ritz-Carlton and Fromaggio in Boston. Later, he spent 12 years making cheese in Marion, Mass., before moving to Brazil with Priscilla. She has family there and while the move was good in some ways, New England called. They moved back and, with an idea to open a small shop, started looking around on Warren and nearby locations. Late last year, they spotted the small space at the corner of Market and Main and called the landlord.

“We were very fortunate to drive past that spot when we did,” he said.

Four months later, Prica Farina is nearly ready.

The shop’s focus is pasta, and he and Priscilla will make it fresh daily using traditional and innovative ingredients. Staples will be the best available and will be sourced locally when possible.

“When we were in Brazil there were a lot of pasta shops and I just thought it was a wonderful idea because it’s something everyone likes,” he said. There’s so much you can do with it.“

The varieties are nearly endless. One recent day, Mr. Strenio showed off a selection of pastas he’d made at home the night before — a colorful array of greens, tans, browns and reds, including porcini campanelle, English pea bucatini, emmer faro spaghetti, durum linguine and orecchiette.

“There’s a huge catalog,” he said. “It’s always going to be changing depending on the season.”

Apart from pasta, the Strenios will also have a charcuterie section and a good variety of quality cheeses from across the globe, as well as tinned fish and other gourmet items. There won’t be eat-in service (retail only) but as food lovers the Strenios are excited for customers to come by, stop for a spell and talk food over a cup of espresso. Pasta making classes are possible in the future, as well.

“We want to introduce people to different things, rare and uncommon things that we happen to love,” he said. “We love to talk about food and exchange ideas and recipes. And we encourage people to ask for things they want.”

Their thoughts on being in Warren?

“We’re excited,” he said. “We’re very happy and feel fortunate to be a part” of the town’s renowned food culture.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.