Can restaurant pasta travel? For years, the award-winning chef and owner of Lilia and Misi restaurants resisted the idea, refusing to make rigatoni to-go for customers in New York City. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Missy Robbins explained why:
“People—even friends—come in and say, ‘Oh, my husband can’t make it tonight. Can I have a rigatoni to go?’ and I’m like, ‘No.’ And that just has to do with quality and wanting people to experience pasta as it was meant to be experienced, and that is right away.”
But since everything in the restaurant world changed in three months, so did Missy.
This week, the chef officially launched a line of meal kits, sharing tips and ingredients with customers who miss her recipes and cooking.
Pasta lovers can sign-up for weekly deliveries of “Misipasta” and sauce (instructions included), and grocery service. Missy created two options, a “pantry bag” stuffed with Italian staples, like Parmigiano Reggiano, and a selection of farm-fresh vegetables, meat and seafood.
The chef who claimed to have “brought the best of Italy to Williamsburg,” a historically Southern Italian neighborhood of Brooklyn, is now excited to “introduce them to young broccoli rabe” that can’t be found in stores.
All can be pre-ordered online and picked up at Misi in Williamsburg. Stay tuned for the next addition– specialty goods.
This month’s profits will be given to the NAACP and the Food Education Fund, a nonprofit that helps public school students pursue culinary careers.