app/small bites for heavy meal

Olives! Of all kinds -- green, black, brown. Stuffed olives with almonds, garlic, jalapenos, or anchovies. Home-made tapenade with thin toasts made from a sourdough or French baguette. Many people enjoy mini-gherkins, too.

l always serve garlic bread with pasta! So I agree- no bread or heavy carb as appetizer....I would do a Green Goddess dip with fresh veggies & maybe pita chips.
A small bowl of assorted nuts or “cheese coins”, & that’s all you need!

I like a platter of roasted veggies with some bread and cheese, with some olive oil and a good balsamic on hand for drizzling. I also love the radishes and butter with bread idea. Along those lines, you can make a lovely pistou out of the radish tops (just stick the greens in a food pro with some EVOO a clove of garlic, S & P and that’s it. Then you can construct little open faced bites with bread, butter, the pistou, radish slices, and -for me most necessarily - salt. So fresh and bright and simple - and so so good. You could also leave the ingredients deconstructed and have your guests layer the toppings as they like.

Stacy Isabel - I can see wanting the garlic bread (or any good plain bread) to mop up the short-ribs sauce. But serving noodles AND bread sounds like too much, even to someone who loves carbs.
If you decide to remove one of the carbs in the main meal, that leaves room to use one of them in the appetizers.
Whether you stick to original menu or revise it, here are ideas:
• Danish sandwiches, mini (your choice)
• Fish, smoked or marinated, on crackers or canapes
• Pasta filled & fried, with dipping sauces (many examples from around the world, e.g., ravioli, samosa, kreplach)
• Pickles or pickled salad, alone or with some of the others
• Puff pastries, with savory fillings.
• Radishes with unsalted butter and slices of baguette
• Soup in shot glasses
• Tapas w/o bread - Spanish Tortilla, garlic shrimp, fried squid.
• Zakuski (Russian appetizers), 2 or 3
Drinks (depending on your food choices)
• Champagne, sherry or a regular wine that goes with your choices
• Tequila or vodka, iced
Nancy

quick cheeseboard with nuts, pears, clementines , dried fruit , jams.

mozzarella tomato and grilled veggies

How about bruschetta, such as these: https://food52.com/recipes/3283-garlic-lovers-bruschetta; https://food52.com/recipes/23366-tomato-bruschetta-summer-on-toast. If you do, the trick will be to get tomatoes that don't taste like cardboard, as store-bought ones often do -- perhaps you can get some at a farmer's market.

small cheeseboard & crackers with union square bar nuts https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/the-union-square-cafes-bar-nuts-recipe-2203662
caprese salad
shrimp cocktail , you can get shrimp already cooked.
smoked salmon fresh dill, creme fresh, toast points
crudite