Check out Gustiamo on Eater! Everyone seems to be talking about Italian pasta made with Italian wheat. The fantastica joins the wheat conversation on Eater talking about some of our favorite NYC chefs and the pasta they use.
“Good pastas have been in the market for awhile, with restaurants like Roman’s in Brooklyn that swear by them. Chef David Gould uses a brand called Martelli, made from wheat grown in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, that he’s been sourcing from an importer, the Bronx-based Gustiamo, for several years. The pasta company makes 400 tons of pasta a year, compared to a company like the Parma-based Barilla, which produces well over 80,000 tons a year for the U.S. alone… ‘We like the shaping and the thickness,’ says Gould of Martelli… there’s always one or two dishes on that showcase Martelli, like spaghetti with lentils or fusilli with cabbage, prosciutto, and fontina.”
“Over at Charlie Bird, Hardy, who sources several pasta brands, uses Martelli in dishes like spaghetti all’olio with sea urchin from Maine, with few ingredients so the flavors of urchin and pasta aren’t muddied… ‘People often think that fresh pasta is best when in fact it’s quite the opposite… And we often think dried pasta is all the same, when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.’ “
“At Lincoln in Lincoln Center, chef Jonathan Benno uses Tumminia Busiate, an ancient type of durum wheat that miller Filippo Drago has reintroduced among Italian varietals. ‘Tumminia, since it is an ancient wheat that was never genetically manipulated,’ says Beatrice Ughi of Gustiamo, ‘is very digestible and even suitable for people with some wheat sensitivities… On the current menu, Benno offers busiate alla Trapanese, the corkscrew-shaped pasta with San Marzano tomatoes, eggplant, almonds and Pecorino Siciliano. “The whole wheat busiate has a nutty flavor [and] an al dente bite… and the corkscrew shape grabs any sauce you prepare with it.’ ”
Read the full Pasta With a Pedigree article.