RP's Pasta Company is one of the Madison food scene's big success stories.

The company started selling its pasta to the Blue Marlin and Pasta Per Tutti in March 1995. That summer it also began to take part in the Dane County Farmers' Market, where you can still find owner Peter Robertson every Saturday.

RP's has tripled its sales in the last two years, finishing last year at $1.1 million. Its Ecco La Pasta pasta flour has been picked up and distributed to all of the 264 Williams-Sonoma stores in the U.S. and Canada. RP's retail line is available from the Minneapolis area to Detroit, said Robertson.

In July 2006, Robertson moved his pasta-making operations from Williamson Street to East Wilson Street, which is on the bike path but still a bit off the beaten path. The new location doubles as a retail outlet and a reasonably-priced restaurant called the Fork & Spoon Cafe. It's open for lunch five days a week and for dinner Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

It's a pleasant space with green and white checkerboard tables and the walls painted two cheerful tones of orange. There's a huge, playful fork and spoon on the ceiling and smaller ones on the wall. Orders are placed at the counter instead of table service.

My favorite pasta is probably the pasta modena ($8.95). Curly Campanelli noodles are tossed with kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and spinach in balsamic vinegar and white wine and topped with crumbled feta cheese. Some of the ingredients -- olives, red peppers and spinach -- could have been more plentiful, but the combination was excellent and the leftovers worked nicely the next day as a cold pasta salad.

The basil pesto ($7.95) employed an oddly bland pesto sauce over linguine. Likewise, the linguine and clam sauce didn't sing. A friend and I had to liven them both up with red pepper flakes, salt and Parmesan cheese. You can add items like grilled chicken, vegetables, sausage, shrimp, smoked salmon, meatballs or fresh mozzarella for an extra $3. That may be the way to go.

On my first visit to the Fork & Spoon Cafe nearly two years ago, I envied my friend's mac and cheese. It was absolutely sensational. So I ordered it myself the next time around and it wasn't the same. The mac and cheese I ordered recently, for this review, was the same uninspired dish, more creamy than cheesy.

During a recent visit, three of us each ordered the spaghetti and meatballs ($8.49). It was an honest plate of spaghetti and the meatballs were a decent size, but I wasn't totally sold on the marinara sauce. My two friends had no complaints, except one said he could have used more sauce.

The pasta dishes come with a thick, satisfying piece of focaccia. But I found myself wanting some olive oil to dip it in.

We also ordered the antipasto plate, an assorted seasonal vegetable platter featuring grilled zucchini, eggplant, squash, onion, carrot, red pepper and small balls of fresh mozzarella. It's a nice feature of the menu and went well with the pasta.

FORK & SPOON CAFE

Address: 1133 E. Wilson St.

Phone: 442-1217

Lunch: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dinner: Thursday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Web site: www.forkandspooncafe.com

Notes: Small parking lot and ample street parking; wheelchair-accessible; no smoking; credit cards and personal checks accepted