Pasta Puttana -- fresh pasta

Say bye-bye to dried pasta!!! Pasta Puttana chef/owner Jessica Volpe makes fresh, organic, handmade pasta right here in Chicago... I'm addicted! It'll really "WOW" you!

Puttana is Italian for whore. What a brilliant company name!!!!

Seasonal Herb Tagliatelle
Golden-egg Parpadelle
Whole Wheat Linguini
White Wine Tagliatelle
Red-Chili Lingiuni
and others...

Usually available at Green City Market (every 1st and 3rd Saturday during the winter), The Green Grocer, and Dirk's.

Not crazy about puttana in the company name.

I have wanted to stop by her shop since she opened, but for some reason, never have.

Stopped on Saturday afternoon. Jessica was almost out of pasta after a busy day. I took the last bag of Wild Mushroom Tagliatelle (my first choice) and was going to get Red-chili Linguini, but since Jessica said her favorite pasta was the Golden-egg Cappellini (because of the texture), I grabbed a couple of those.

I am usually not a fan of non-stuffed fresh pasta's, but Jessica's are phenomenal. WAY better than my attempts and better than my previous standard bearer, the Pasta Shoppe on Harlem, back in it's hey day.

Since Jessica emphasized keeping it simple, I followed instructions and was thrilled with the results.

Saturday was the wild mushroom day as a side dish to some fantastic rainbow trout from Dirk's. All I did was barely drizzle some EVOO over it, crumble some fresh chevre over it and toss with fresh sage/chives. The women in the house were swooning...

Tonight I made the golden-egg cappellini as a main alongside olive oil sauteed leeks, sweet long red peppers, asparagus and fresh basil. I tossed the pasta with sauteed portobellos, browned ground chicken with garlic, fresh sage, and grated parmesean. This may sound like a lot going on, but it wasn't really. The mushrooms melded with the chicken and the pasta really stood on it's own. Another fantastic pasta.

I'll address the issue some people may be thinking. Yes, it is the most expensive pasta I have every purchased. Is it worth it? Without a doubt! Just don't compare it to other pasta's and you will be fine. It shouldn't be compared to other pasta's and it isn't out of line with any other similar artisinal product.

I can't wait to get more!!!

Bravo, Jessica!

PP is without a doubt the worst pre-made fresh pasta I have ever tasted. Seriously. Tough and gummy. VERY disappointing.

sundevilpeg wrote:PP is without a doubt the worst pre-made fresh pasta I have ever tasted. Seriously. Tough and gummy. VERY disappointing.

The problem was probably how you cooked it.

=R=

first rule of pasta club
let people know where it is....


pastaputtana.com/Pasta Puttana | 1407 W. Grand Avenue Chicago, IL 60642

When I lived in that area, that storefront was an Italian ice shop.

sundevilpeg wrote:
PP is without a doubt the worst pre-made fresh pasta I have ever tasted. Seriously. Tough and gummy. VERY disappointing.

The problem was probably how you cooked it

Nope. This ain't my first rodeo. My ex bought some at the same time (at Green Grocer a couple of years back), and he had precisely the same experience as I. They aren't giving that stuff away, either. I'd rather bust out the Atlas crank machine and make fresh pasta myself than blow whatever they are charging for it now ever again.

"...how I cooked it...," indeed!

sundevilpeg wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:
PP is without a doubt the worst pre-made fresh pasta I have ever tasted. Seriously. Tough and gummy. VERY disappointing.

The problem was probably how you cooked it

Nope. This ain't my first rodeo. My ex bought some at the same time (at Green Grocer a couple of years back), and he had precisely the same experience as I. They aren't giving that stuff away, either. I'd rather bust out the Atlas crank machine and make fresh pasta myself than blow whatever they are charging for it now ever again.

"...how I cooked it...," indeed!

Sure, ok.

=R=

I really wanted to like this place and post a snarky reply to sundevilpeg. Gotta agree with him/her. The poorest and most expensive fresh pasta I've had. Bought asparagus pasta and ramp butter as a sauce. Pasta was one big blob and seperating the strands took forever. Tried it without the butter and couldn't taste any hint of asparagus. No way a package serves 2. Thumbs down.

I actually had a similar experience recently. I bought two (what I thought were small) packages of red chili pasta. The cost, I thought, was exorbitant. And when I cooked them (properly, I might add...I do know how to cook pasta....trained by a chef from Alain Ducasse NY when it was opened....not to brag but to show I am not naive to this) and the pasta was gummy and clumped in many places, forcing me to throw lots of it out.

DutchMuse wrote:I actually had a similar experience recently. I bought two (what I thought were small) packages of red chili pasta. The cost, I thought, was exorbitant. And when I cooked them (properly, I might add...I do know how to cook pasta....trained by a chef from Alain Ducasse NY when it was opened....not to brag but to show I am not naive to this) and the pasta was gummy and clumped in many places, forcing me to throw lots of it out.

That is a huge bummer.

=R=

That is too bad to hear about the poor reviews recently. A couple of weeks ago, I made ramp pesto with the leaves after pickling the bulbs. I wanted to get fresh pasta and opted for her classic egg linguini, and we loved it. It wasn't sticky or gummy.

I understand that it is not difficult to cook pasta, BUT Jessica gave me the cooking times and they were insanely short, a matter of seconds. I did cook them VERY quickly, as instructed, and my results were great.

Not accusing anyone of overcooking, I am only explaining my results with two separate cooking experiences of two different pastas.

We continue to buy and love Jessica's pastas and our favorite way to use is as a side. The quality of even 'plainer' pastas is fabulous. My wife just picked up garlic fettucini at Dirk's. I sauteed onion and fennel in EVOO. Added a bit of butter at the end when I threw in fresh chives and fresh sage. Tossed with the pasta and served with crumbled chevre.