For over a decade, Tuscan chef Rita Sodi’s signature lasagna al sugo seduced the most demanding New Yorkers. Outside I Sodi restaurant in Greenwich Village, locals waited hours on Christopher Street, hoping for a table.
Recently, the James Beard Best Chef added a new oven baked pasta to the I Sodi menu: Cacio e pepe lasagna. Her white lasagna can be picked up and delivered to home (no lines!) and the snowy months in New York City will seem shorter and cozier because of it.
In a recent interview this week, chef Rita relayed a few secrets about the dish. She boils Pecorino rinds for six hours before transforming the broth into a velvety béchamel sauce that binds 21 layers of fresh pasta into a perfect stack of oozing creamy goodness. Rita plans to sell the Cacio e Pepe sauce in jars.
Since the pandemic, Rita and partner Jody Williams’ fine-tuned the food offering at their other New York City Italian restaurants. Via Carota now sells Panettone and Pandoro sweet bread for pick-up, as well as gift cards and kitchen staples, including Rita's Italian olive oil. And, Bar Pisellino– one of America's Best Bars according to Esquire– still serves Italian coffee and pastry.
Cover photo credit: Via Carota