Rare Pasta Series At Le Virtu (Yeah, We Said ‘Rare Pasta’)


‘Rare’ as in ‘uncommon’. As in ‘not-just-another-plate-of-spaghetti-and-goddamn-meatballs’. Rare as in frascarell (a kind of Abruzze cous cous) and culurgiones from Sardinia–stuff that, even in this pasta-mad city, isn’t seen often or at all.

Chef Joe Cicala is doing his weirdo pasta all through the spring, starting tonight with something that’s always been on his menu–the Maccheroni alla Mugnaia. Hand-made and with noodles stretching up to 60 feet long, it’s served with olive oil, grated pecorino, a basket of chiles and a pair of scissors. If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t already heard about the stuff (or if my description of it just confused you), have no fear. There’s a video of Cicala learning how to make it at Ristorante La Bilancia in Loreto Aprutino, Abruzzo. Check it out after the jump.

Cool, right?

And this is just the start. Cicala is going to be switching up the rare pastas every other week throughout the Spring and will be serving them on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. But how can you ever be expected to keep track of something like that? By keeping an eye on social media and looking for the hashtag #rarepastas. Also, he’s going to be doing videos for all of them. Also, we’ll probably be writing about them here because Cicala is something of a pasta whisperer and I love seeing what kind of strangeness he’s been getting up to lately.

Le Virtu [f8b8z]