Pasta: Love Letter to Italy from the World’s Greatest Chefs
Pasta is more than a dish. It’s a cultural icon, a comfort food, and a celebration of flavor and heritage. From silky strands of tagliatelle to stuffed ravioli pillows bursting with flavor, pasta inspires boundless imagination. So what do culinary heroes proclaim their favorites? We asked food legends to share the closest-to-their-heart pasta dishes. The verdict: a heartwarming journey of simplicity, nostalgia, and gastronomic brillianc
1. Bobby Flay, Anchovy and Butter Pasta
Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef known for his hot, flame-grilled food, was inspired in Rome by a humble dish: pasta with anchovy and butter at Roscioli Ristorante Salumeria. What makes it delicious is the technique, not olive oil but sweet butter, and a ladle of pasta water to gently cook the anchovies. Flay describes the outcome as magical, a reminder that a little technique can create sublime flavor with a few ingredients.
2. Marco Pierre White, Tagliolini with Prawns
Iconic Marco Pierre White adores nothing so much as tagliolini with prawns, a dish he draws parallel with the best pasta sauce he has ever had. Fine, egg-thick pasta hurled in with onion, garlic, tomatoes, and herbs, it is typical of White’s deep reverence for harmony. He cautions never to overcook the pasta since it affects the sauce. And against tradition, he leaves it up to the individual to decide whether or not to add Parmesan.
3. Alex Guarnaschelli, Pesto Pasta from Nice
La Merenda in Nice, France, was where Chef Alex Guarnaschelli had her life-changing pasta encounter. Their pesto tagliatelle brought tears to her eyes. She describes the dish’s power in its unapologetic simplicity, watching the pasta fall directly onto hot pesto, lovely coated. No stars given by Michelin required, just a deep respect for tradition and flavor.
4. Rocco DiSpirito, Fettuccine Alfredo
Rocco DiSpirito takes comfort in a dish familiar to many of us: fettuccine Alfredo. His variation features chicken and additional butter topped with Parmigiano Reggiano. Though many would label it as simple, DiSpirito considers it “the best comfort meal ever invented.” It’s evidence that nobility and comfort can exist together in the same dish.
5. Donatella Arpaia, Imbustata
Donatella Arpaia adapts her favorite to her childhood and her family. She recalls imbustata, an envelope-shaped pasta baked and served at Cellini in Manhattan. Creamy vodka sauce, chicken, and shiitake mushrooms make it one she’s prepared herself, capped with mozzarella. To Arpaia, it’s not food, but legacy.
6. Gordon Ramsay, Lobster Ravioli
Reknown for his accuracy and vigor, Gordon Ramsay’s best pasta is as sophisticated as one would anticipate. His lemongrass velouté, accompanied lobster, langoustine, and salmon ravioli is the epitome of fine dining. It’s a tour de force in flavor combination and technical proficiency, a creation only Ramsay could pull off with such panache.
7. Jamie Oliver, Rotolo
Jamie Oliver owes his whole cooking life to rotolo, a swirled tube of pasta filled with ricotta, greens, mushrooms, and so forth. Baked in tomato sauce and served with sage butter, rotolo is a hands-on, rustic, intensely personal thing. Oliver loves not only what it tastes like but how it goes down, rolling, poaching, baking, making it happen
8. Wolfgang Puck, Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter
At his former LA restaurant Ospero, Wolfgang Puck served a seasonal treasure: pumpkin ravioli tossed in brown butter and sage. Finished with pecans and cheese, the dish celebrates fall flavors with warmth and refinement. While the restaurant is closed, the recipe lives on in home cooks’ kitchens, offering a glimpse of Puck’s refined sensibility.
9. Anthony Bourdain, Cacio e Pepe
To Anthony Bourdain, who is deceased, there were few dishes that stood higher than cacio e pepe. Just Pecorino Romano, pasta water, black pepper, and pasta. His default version he discovered at Roma Sparita, which he served out of a Parmesan bowl. Bourdain’s reaction, wonder, awe, and delight, is that of an unrestrained, unapologetic, and honest dish.
10. Alain Ducasse, Olive Mill Pasta
Alain Ducasse’s standby, olive mill pasta with strozzapreti, originated in Ligurian countryside tradition. Made with plain vegetables like onions, fingerling potatoes, and fresh basil, it is a reminder of Ducasse’s creed of elevating the mundane to brilliance by technique. A “plain dish,” maybe, but at his restaurant in Monte Carlo, it is greatness in humility.
11. Delia Smith, Pasta alla Carbonara
Delia Smith, a British cooking institution, is committed to her version of carbonara. She stays loyal with smoked pancetta and Pecorino Romano but adds a touch of cream to the egg sauce. Her subtle departure does not compromise the dish’s Roman roots. The recipe is worth a try for carbonara enthusiasts.
12. Angela Hartnett, Aglio e Olio
Angela Hartnett loves aglio e olio, garlic, chile, olive oil, parsley, and pasta. With no thick sauce, it is all about quality and timing. Hartnett’s restraint proves that a handful of great ingredients can make a dish unforgettable.
13. Anne-Sophie Pic, Berlingots
Anne-Sophie Pic, a culinary pioneer, reinvents pasta with berlingots triangular packets filled with ginger, bergamot, and smoked Banon watercress consommé. She drew inspiration for the dish from French ravioles and childhood candies, and the dish itself is convoluted, beautiful, and uniquely hers. It reflects her philosophy: food as free expression.
Pasta Beyond the Plate: The Restaurant Experience
The pasta magic does not only occur in the kitchen of the chefs. At Il Gigante, a small family restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens, familiarity and tradition meet. Gramigna in sausage-pink sauce and bucatini cacio e pepe warm hearts. Customers come for the warm welcome and come back for the food, already thinking of their next visit.
In Westwood, New Jersey, chef Robbie Felice lets loose at Bar Mutz. It’s not an ordinary trattoria, it’s a mozzarella-studded nightclub, featuring graffiti walls, hip-hop beats, and plates sporting the sign “best f mozzarella.” While mozzarella gets top billing, pasta is the star of the show.
Felice’s trottole ragu of short ribs, cooked with mozzarella whey and Belper Knolle cheese, are bold and multi-layered. Umami and brightness from soy and ponzu are part of the braise. The lobster mac is even reimagined: a four-day-simmer sauce, with shells ground up, stacked stock, and Meyer lemon sour cream that’s citrus.
Desserts are sparkly too. Rainbow cookie and fior di latte gelato are the stars, topped with Nutella-stuffed cones and bits of cookies. Not all winners, tableside mozzarella qualify under spectacle, not taste, and the mozzarella sticks are a letdown.
But the overall ambiance is not to be forgotten, deliberately polarizing. Felice isn’t trying to win everyone over, he’s cooking food that’s brazen, innovative, and unapologetically his, soundtrack included.
Store-Bought Stars: The Salsa Surprise
Fine dining and pasta put aside, another shock standout was from the experts discussing prepared salsa. Herdez Salsa, specifically Salsa Casera and Salsa Verde, is the unapologetic favorite among food industry experts like Alejandra Graf, Yarely Euan Lopez, and Juan C. Guerrero. Cheap, delicious, and surprisingly close to homemade, it’s used on eggs, tacos, beans, chilaquiles, and even baked potatoes.
These fanatics find innovative uses, folding into hummus, stir-frying with tofu or beef, or adding to enchilada sauce. It’s a reminder that food enjoyment can be found in the simplest of jars where flavor and quality intersect.
In the End, It’s About Connection
Whether it’s a Michelin-starred work of art, a comfort dish classic, or an amazing jar of salsa, food is storytelling. These dishes speak as much to memory, heritage, and feeling as to flavor and technique. The perfect pasta? There is more than one. Each chef’s favorite dish is another window into what makes food personal, flavor, craft, and a whole lot of heart.
