Pasta became a staple of Italian fare after Emperor Caligula famously elevated a plate of lasagna to the Roman Senate. Feast on political recipes with today’s Groupon to La Nostra Pasta in Sarasota. Choose between the following options:

• For $15, you get $30 worth of Italian cuisine and drinks.
• For $28, you get $60 worth of Italian cuisine and drinks for four or more people.<p>

Culinary masterminds at La Nostra Pasta craft classic Italian dishes and homemade desserts that sate appetites in an informal, welcoming ambiance. Foursomes debate whether tomatoes are fruits, vegetables, or alien spy technologies over an order of caprese salad, which buddies tomatoes up with buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves ($7.99). Pasta-seekers can sink forks into the three fromaggio penne with fontina, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese doused in cognac and tomato cream sauce ($10.95), and guests can traverse land and sea with the mare e terra, a 12-ounce grilled rib-eye steak accompanied by spicy shrimp skewers, mascarpone mashed potatoes, and merlot and tarragon butter ($18.95). Pastas and entrees waltz to tables with soup or salad, and they also dance well with a homemade dessert such as cannoli, a cylindrical pastry that makes a mean jazz flute when not occupied by citrusy ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, and pistachios ($4.25). Soft sconce lighting illuminates menus, and flower arrangements add hints of color at each wooden table.