Farina

Farina makes the work of pasta the organizing idea of dinner. Michael Smith’s kitchen rolls, fills and shapes it by hand, using regional Italian recipes as a framework and Midwestern seasons as a source of change. In the Crossroads, the restaurant brings together that culinary approach and Nancy Smith’s direction of the wine program. It offers a coherent reason to choose Italian food beyond a familiar bowl of noodles.

The current menu makes the craft visible through different forms. Potato gnocchi accompany braised rabbit, while duck-filled mezzaluna meet Gorgonzola cream. Cheese-filled caramelle take a mushroom sauce with Marsala, and squid-ink radiatori carry crab and Sicilian pesto. The classical side of the menu includes cacio e pepe and rigatoni all’amatriciana. The distinction lies in the choice of shape, filling and sauce, allowing a diner to compare several expressions of the same ingredient rather than merely select a protein.

An oyster bar adds a separate opening to the meal, and the broader dinner menu includes seafood, roasted pork and a wood-grilled Kansas City strip. Pasta remains central, but a mixed table has room to branch out. The restaurant’s seasonal approach also means that its published current menu is more useful than old photographs of a particular plate. Farina is a strong fit for an evening when the meal itself is the main plan: a carefully chosen starter, a pasta that draws attention to technique and a wine selected to carry the conversation forward.

Sources: Farina: location and hours · Farina: handmade pasta and current menu · Farina: Michael and Nancy Smith · Farina: 2026 wine dinners and events · Farina: Google Maps listing