Giancarlo “Wendy” Cacciatori is bringing his Questlove-approved pasta to NYC
by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya Jul 20, 2018, 10:29am EDT
A tortellini specialist with a Miami restaurant is bringing his Italian family’s recipes to Hudson Square next week.
Giancarlo “Wendy” Cacciatori plans to open Nonna Beppa, named after Cacciatori’s grandmother, at 290 Hudson St., between Spring and Dominick streets, on Monday. The restaurant will put the chef’s family-recipe tortellini at front-and-center, serving it along with other pastas out of the 75-seat space.
The chef-restaurateur also has Italian restaurant Via Emilia 9 in Miami, which opened in 2014 and serves pasta and regional fare from parts of Italy like Bologna and Modena. It picked up some acclaim while there: During an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, musician Questlove shouted out the restaurant, saying the pasta at Via Emilia is “much, much better than good.”
Here in New York at Nonna Beppa, the pasta Cacciatori has become known for will be handmade at a work station visible to customers through a window. The signature dish is that tortellini, made from a recipe used at two restaurants owned and run by his family in a small town north of Bologna that date back to the end of World War II. The tortellini are filled with prosciutto aged for 18 months, mortadella, pork loin, and parmigiano-reggiano aged for 24 months — and then served in a light broth.
Other dishes at the restaurant include a tagliatelle in bolognese and a tagliatelle with prosciutto, and all pastas will be cooked in a chicken and beef tongue broth unless otherwise requested. There will be a retail component, too, with pastas and other items from the menu available for sale.
Nonna Beppa opens on Monday, July 23, 2018 and will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.