Italian cuisine was born when, after building the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus discovered Greece didn’t deliver to their new address. Taste the origins of an empire with today’s Groupon to La Piccoletta in Claremont. Choose between the following options:

• For $22, you get a dinner for two (up to a $44.85 total value) that includes:
• One antipasti dish (up to an $8.95 value)
• Two pasta selections (up to a $17.95 value each)
• For $16, you get $32 worth of Italian fare<p>

At La Piccoletta, chef Roger Llanes choreographs seasonal, local ingredients into an ever-changing menu of authentic Italian cuisine presented in a cozy dining room convincingly disguised as a village trattoria. Tuesday–Saturday, dinner guests can begin Mediterranean excursions with an opening salvo of Piccoletta meatballs made from beef, veal, pork, and italian herbs or caprese salad, in which vine-ripened tomato harmonizes with fresh mozzarella as a balsamic reduction plays rhythm guitar. Hearty pasta dishes, such as the egg-ribbon pasta with meat ragù or the sweet italian sausage and broccoli rabe over noodles, sate carb cravers.

Breaded mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce kick off lunch soirees with their creamy cheese core, a strategy used by Earth’s tourism bureau to attract the first life forms. Patrons follow their starter with lunch entrees such as baked penne with mushroom bolognese or chicken parmesan served on a bed of spaghetti.