Favorite Pasta Dish
I know most people crave a bowl of delicious pasta at some point or another. I'm curious to get some recommendations of what your favorite pasta dish is. Could be neighborhood trattoria to Spago, tomato based, cream sauce, whatever your fancy. Any pasta dish that makes you smile when you think about it....
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Maxmillion
Nov 20, 2006 05:59 PM
Pasta is an artform. Eating excellent pasta is one step away from heaven. Here are my faves:
1 -- Mezzomondo. Homemade parpadelle with duck ragu. Wow. Any of their ravioli with pink sauce. That always hits the spot.
2 -- La Buca -- Now everybody knows there's gnocchi and then there's *gnocchi*... Some gnocchi jams in your throat on the way down and almost instantly forms in your stomach into a stodgy brick of potato or flour (or, more fatally, both). A few bites and you're pushing your plate away and reaching for a cleansing gulp of wine to cut through the paste.
Then there's the kind of gnocchi that will spoil your palate forevermore. You will never be able to order the stuff again because you have sampled the ambrosia that is Mamma Buca's gnocchi.
When I was last there, these delightful gnocchi were plump and pillowy, indented and perfectly hand-formed blobs of pure heaven. I got them dressed with a sublime and silky pink vodka sauce that was attractively speckled with finely cut parsley and not at all salty (hate that!) At $16.75 it was a pricey but substantial dish, half of which served me well the next day for lunch when reheated in the microwave. When I asked for my ample leftovers to be bagged, I also asked our waiter to return the plate so I could lick it clean. I might have actually done that if he'd taken me seriously... It is a small place...
3 -- At Angelini Osteria, Nonna's legendary Lasagne Verdi comes dressed with vibrant, deep fried basil leaves and will leave an indelible impression on that corner of your mind reserved for fond memories of fine meals.
*sigh*
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I second the Nonna Elvira lasagna at Vincenti. But even more unique is their osso buco tortelloni. Large pasta packets stuffed with shredded osso buco mixed with parmigiano reggiano and ricotta, sauced with fresh tomato and mixed wild mushrooms. The last time I had it my dinner companion actually licked the plate (we were eating in the bar, so she did it unobserved). Also on Friday night they had a white truffle special ravioli which was stuffed with fresh burrata, tossed with sauteed porcini and showered with an ounce of white truffle. Sublime. Granted, at $80. an ounce it is an indulgence, but Giorgio Baldi is charging $130. an ounce, so it's a relative bargain.
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westsidegal
Nov 20, 2006 12:09 AM
SPAGHETTI INTEGRALI PRIMAVERA made with whole wheat pasta at il forno on ocean park
2901 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405
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Amanda Enclade
Nov 19, 2006 06:47 PM
I recently had lobster cavatelli at Grace and it blew my socks off-just melts in your mouth. lobster, cavatelli, chanterelle,cream and sweet peas. amazing.
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I had a lobster pasta dish at Patina once (years ago, on Melrose) that I still think about.
But by far, the best pasta dish (and probably the best dish, period) I've ever had was when a friend of mine prepared the French Laundry recipe for butter-poached lobster meat served on mascarpone-spiked orzo ("Mac and cheese", as Thomas Keller calls it)
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anything in red sauce at al gelato. does anybody know the secret to that sauce?! i'm dying to know!
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chicken, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and linguine in a parmesean broth at maggiano's (originally comes with farfalle but I substitute with linguine). Get a full order ($15) and more than enough for 2. I ate it 4 times in one week once. which reminds me I need to go back ASAP....
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Ravioli or gnocchi in red sauce at Al Gelato in Beverly Hills. Fabulous old school red sauce. Papardelle in porcini mushroom ragu or spaghetti carbonara at Enoteca Drago. Orichette in Lamb Ragu at Il Pastaio.
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