SAN FRANCISCO — In 2010, as the chef Jonathan Benno was creating the menu for Lincoln Ristorante in New York, he found himself with a culinary challenge. Lincoln had a prime location on the campus of Lincoln Center and a striking custom-designed building. But Mr. Benno felt a certain pressure to distinguish his project from an increasingly crowded field.
“Look at all of the new Italian restaurants that are getting attention in New York and Brooklyn,” he said. “It’s staggering. You can’t keep up with it.” Under such circumstances, he said, a chef has to ask, “What’s going to make us special?”
A friend of Mr. Benno’s, the chef Michael White, had an idea: fresh pasta. Prepared properly, house-made pasta has a luxuriously silky, creamy texture and a springy bite quite different from that of dried pasta cooked al dente. And despite all the effort, it can be a time saver.
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