Pasta Perfect

Photos by Ian Lanterman.
Phil Scarfone, culinary director for Banda Volpi, grew up in an Italian family, where every Sunday his nonna served penne rigate with the sauce she made from tomatoes she grew in her own garden. “My whole life has been pasta,” he says. “Pasta plays a cornerstone in each of our restaurants,” he says. “We honour both classic and new in our locations.”
“At [Osterio] Elio, we’re a bit more playful.” That could mean a sesame spaghetti “that almost doesn’t make sense, but is delicious” or the rigatoni cacio e pepe, where the pecorino is replaced by aged cheddar and the whole comes with charred jalapeño jam. “I think cheddar and jalapeno is a classic combination. It’s very, very good,” he says.