3 Long Island choose-your-own pasta and sauce places to try

Yes, you could probably throw a rock and hit a Long Island restaurant that serves pasta. But here’s how a few trendsetters are using traditional shapes and sauces in a fresh new way. The result? Quick, quality meals that won’t break the bank.

PASTARU PASTIFICIO

133 Mineola Blvd., Mineola, 646-871-0154, pastarupasta.com

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun.–Thurs.; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fri. and Sat.

Pastaru Pastificio may be a tongue-twister of a restaurant name, but all you really need to know is that this Mineola spot serves pasta. Fresh pasta, that is, made right behind the counter in full view of the dining area. You can have any of the eight shapes paired with specific sauces, plus sides, salads, Italian beer and wine, dessert and an expertly pulled espresso. Take your pasta to go or buy a pound and cook it yourself.

Owner Simone Pulieri moved to New York from Italy in 2017. He worked front-of-the-house restaurant jobs in New York City and on Long Island but always dreamed of “opening something really authentic here — where I could go to eat real carbonara, Amatriciana, Bolognese.” Pulieri is from the Italian region of Puglia, where “pastaru” is dialect for “pastaio” (“pastamaker”). “Pastificio” is Italian for “pasta factory” and pronounced “pasti-fee-choh.”

The soul of Pastaru’s operation is the Emiliomiti machine that kneads double-milled durum semolina flour and water and extrudes shapes that include spaghetti, rigatoni, malfadine and paccheri. Gnocchi and, on occasion, Pugliese orecchiette, are made by hand. Pulieri believes the texture of fresh pasta is incomparable — and it’s fast. “Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried — it usually needs no more than three minutes,” he said.

Pastaru’s kitchen is run by Emanuel Concas, a Sardinia-born chef who also presides over the kitchens of Ulivo, Mercato Trattoria and Longo Bros in Manhattan. His sauces are Italian in style rather than Italian American: The Bolognese ragù is mostly meat (beef, veal, pork) with very little tomato. Carbonara is made only with guanciale (cured pig jowl), Pecorino Romano and Parmesan, egg (yolks only) and lots of black pepper; cacio e pepe features Pecorino and pepper. There’s no cream in either of them.

The third member of the Roman triumvirate is Amatriciana (named for the nearby town of Amatrice) with guanciale, tomatoes, Pecorino and black pepper. Genovese, a Southern Italian sauce of long-cooked onions and veal, may be unfamiliar to many customers. There’s also simple burro e Parmigiano (butter plus 36-month-aged cheese), pomodoro (made with San Marzano tomatoes, basil and extra-virgin olive oil), “funghi e tartufo” (portobello mushrooms and truffle oil), pesto and vodka sauce. Already sauced and prepped is a lasagna Bolognese with ragù, Parmesan and béchamel (no mozzarella).

Prices are extremely reasonable: Most of the pastas are $11 per serving; sauces range from $5 to $8. But at lunch, any pasta with any sauce is $15. Among the side dishes ($11 to $15) are meatballs in pomodoro sauce, arancini, eggplant Parmesan, fried artichoke hearts and arugula-Parmesan salad. 

PASTA JOINT

28 Wall St., Huntington, 631-551-0020, freshpastajoint.com

Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon.–Sat.; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun.

Huntington’s Pasta Joint is brought to you by two of the town’s most established operators, Eric and Jason Machado. Since 1986, when their father, Fabio, opened Fabio’s on Stewart Avenue (where Toast & Co. is now), the family has run a dozen establishments in the village, plus many more elsewhere on Long Island. Today, they preside over MB Ramen, which proved to be an inspiration for the Pasta Joint, as well as Bistro Cassis.

“Right now,” Eric said, “people are looking for value. We looked at the hybrid we developed at MB Ramen —l imited seating, half the business is takeout — and built this place to run the same way.” He added that the biggest challenge he and Jason have faced at their new venue is finding help, and for the first few months the brothers were running the kitchen themselves.

He confessed to being surprised at just how many people want to dine in but has only himself and his brother to blame: This “joint” has an unusually appealing dining room with crystal chandeliers contrasting with the rustic furnishings and fresh herb plants gracing every pickled-wood table. The open kitchen adds additional bustle.

The menu is anchored by eight pasta dishes, each of which costs $17. (For a $4 upcharge, you can also order cheese-stuffed tortellini or mushroom ravioli.) The Machados use different doughs in their Arcobaleno machine: egg and finely milled "double zero" flour for the fettuccine; water and semolina for the spaghetti and rigatoni. You’d be wise to take their suggestions for which pasta goes with which sauce: fettuccine with pomodoro, Alfredo or a delicate lemon-Parmesan sauce, for instance; rigatoni with Bolognese or vodka; spaghetti with carbonara or a good-and-porky Amatriciana. Portions are generous and the pasta is not drowned in sauce.

Salads (Caesar, Caprese, arugula) are $10; appetizers (Tuscan bean dip, minestrone, antipasti, eggplant Parmesan) are $12. Pasta Joint considers focaccia, chicken Parm, chicken Milanese, meatballs and fried burrata as sides; each is $9. For dessert: tiramisu. On the beverage front are imported Italian wines, beers and soft drinks. 

PASTA PROJECT

331 Main St., Farmingdale, 516-550-7506, thepastaprojectonline.com

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun.–Thurs.;11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fri.; 11 a.m. to midnight Sat.

Pasta Project in Farmingdale is taking an Italian tradition and giving it a mass-market, quick-serve, maximalist American twist. Pasta alla ruota —pasta tossed in a hollowed-out wheel of cheese — became popular in Italy 30 or 40 years ago before crossing the Atlantic and becoming a tableside spectacle in the United States. Here on Long Island, you can find it at Osteria Umbra in Smithtown and One10 in Melville among other fine-dining restaurants. But Pasta Project is within a pizzeria (Gino’s of Farmingdale) and even though it’s prepared in front of you as well, the dish is served in a paper bowl, whether you dine in or take out.

Gino’s, a classic Long Island pizzeria, was opened in 2024 by Alex Tulley, Michael Grimaudo and brothers Joe and Mike Licata. (They also operate Gino’s pizzerias in Northport, Nesconset, Kings Park and Commack.) The Licata brothers had been vacationing in Sicily when they came across a shop making fresh pasta and tossing it in a cheese wheel. “They were making it right in the window,” Joe recalled, “so everybody could see.”

Traditionally, cheese-wheel pasta (to coin a phrase) is a variation on cacio e pepe where the only ingredients besides pasta are cheese, scraped up from the wheel, and black pepper. (Osteria Umbra adds truffles.) In Farmingdale, the freshly cooked pasta is transferred to a wheel of Grana Padano (a cousin to Parmigiano-Reggiano) and topped with some cream-based Alfredo sauce before it is tossed with tongs that also scrape up and incorporate some cheese.

You could stop there, but the Pasta Project drill involves an additional sauce — tomato, cacio e pepe, Bolognese, pesto or Sunday (with sausage and meatballs) and additional toppings, such as burrata, broccoli, sautéed eggplant, sun-dried peppers, meatballs or grilled chicken. The possibilities are virtually limitless, but most customers avail themselves of one of four $15 signature combos: Alla Norma (tomato sauce, eggplant, ricotta, basil), Holy Sunday (Sunday sauce, burrata, basil), Truffle Mushroom (cacio e pepe sauce, sherry-wine mushrooms, truffle oil) or Pesto Siciliano (pesto, sun-dried peppers, baby mozzarella). Pasta Project also serves gelato, sorbetto, bomboloni (Italian doughnuts) and tiramisu.