Frozen Ravioli and or Tortellini

Does anyone have a good recommendation for what the best frozen raviolis or tortellini's are? I am looking for the ones without sauce. Please advise if you know of a good brand or source.

Look for frozen ravioli made by Perfect Pasta out of Addison. They're available at most independent grocers in DuPage County.

I've had good luck with most of the ones I've tried. It doesn't seem like rocket science to freeze a ravioli.

I can tell you where NOT to buy.
Paulina Meat Market.
For all of their stellar attributes, the frozen pasta is not one of 'em.
I guess I should have known better.

I've bought Perfect Pasta at stores all over Chicagoland. I feel that there must be better options out there, but they are not bad. They also have decent frozen gnocci.

I often buy the fresh tortellini and ravioli at TJ's. I prefer it to the Perfect Pasta brand.

The meat or the cheese tortellini are good as are the mushroom and mascarpone ravioli.

Caputo's does carry other brands of frozen. If I recall Luigi's is one of them and is better than Perfect Pasta.

Freddy's in Cicero has great frozen ravioli and tortellini. They have a seafood ravioli that is outstanding.

If you're looking for the bigger, less machine-perfect ones that seem homemade you could try the ones at:

Fiore's
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
2258 W Erie St
(between Leavitt St & Oakley Blvd)
Chicago, IL 60612
(312) 942-9419

They're in the freezer in clear bags, and they aren't a "brand" name, so I guess they are truly homemade.

Thanks everyone

Last Saturday, while driving downtown on Michigan Avenue and trying to think of something easy to prepare for dinner, I suddenly had a strong desire to eat duck raviolis. I stopped by L'Appetito on Huron where I had seen more than 2 years ago that they had a decent selection of frozen ones and bought a pack of duck raviolis ($5.99 for a pack containing about 17 pretty large round-shaped raviolis) and a pack of meat raviolis (mainly beef) for $5.49 for about 30 pieces of smaller square-shaped raviolis.
Both required 12 to 15 minutes of cooking in boiling water. 13 minutes proved to be enough and they remained whole without falling apart.
Unfortunately the duck raviolis did not have enough duck meat, the bread crumbs, herbs, and ricotta cheese were too dominant, and therefore you would have never guessed that they were duck raviolis. All together the whole thing was not bad, but quite bland.
The dough was ok, but a bit too chewy.
The meat raviolis had more meat and were a bit tastier, the dough was more or less similar to the other, but once again the combined taste and texture were nothing to write home about.
So I added a decent marinara sauce from a jar, some good olive oil, and grated Parmesan and Romano cheese, and with the help of a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, I survived the evening.
On the plus side, there were no unpleasant additives, fillers, or preservatives in these raviolis. And they were perfectly edible.
On the minus side I have some doubt that L'Appetito make them themselves. On the package the only mention of origin or manufacturing says: "Packaged for L'Appetito Imports, Chicago". I wonder if you can find real imported Italian raviolis, canned or in frozen packages, in Chicago?
Because, after years of looking, without success, for a good source of freshly made raviolis in either downtown or on the north side of Chicago, I had decided to try frozen raviolis, but that most recent experience was not really convincing.
Any new suggestion will be welcome.

P.S I tried the frozen raviolis made by Perfect Pasta that were mentioned on this thread in the past and did not like them. Besides they contain lots of totally not useful or appetizing ingredients

Off the beaten path but Pasta Fresh on Harlem north of Belmont specializes in --- pasta, freshly made on-premises. Excellent quality ravioli, lasagna (these things defy the laws of physics -- unbelievably dense with ingredients).

Conti Di Savoia
www.contedisavoia.com

1438 West Taylor Street
Chicago, IL 60607-4623
(312) 666-3471

They have fresh, but I've only had the frozen.

not frozen, but WF carries RP's Pasta Company fresh pasta, which is a small batch maker from Madison. It's some of the best pasta I've ever bought... they stock 4 or so kinds of their raviolli and tortellini, all are cheese filled not meat though. (my favorite are actually the lasagna sheets, which i cut sometimes into noodles). one of their pastas is on sale this week for $3each but I forget which. if you were looking for larger quantities, they do 10# cases for restaurant supply

Spinynorman,

Thank you for reminding me of Pasta Fresh on Harlem. I had totally forgotten that place where I used to stop by from time to time when I visited Piazza Roma main store next door, unfortunately closed now.
I will try their ravioli next time I do a little Pilgrimage on Harlem, a street that has lost sevearl of its best small Italian shops over the last 10 years. Besides it is a bit far away from my home in West Rogers Park.

Besides it is a bit far away from my home in West Rogers Park.

I live in Peterson Park and it's actually a pretty quick zip down Devon to Harlem and then south to the strip near Belmont. I wouldn't do it near rush hour, but mid-day or on weekends it's not so bad.

alain40 wrote:I wonder if you can find real imported Italian raviolis, canned or in frozen packages, in Chicago?

I'm intrigued by the "canned" request. Is there such a thing as quality canned pasta?

Pasta Fresh pastas, including raviolis, gnocchi, and flat pastas in three or four different types of doughs, is carried at the new giant Whole Foods in Lincoln Park. I've purchased and used the classic egg fettuccine, and it was very good, high quality stuff.


Whole Foods Market
1550 N. Kingsbury Street
Chicago, IL 60642
Phone: 312.587.0648
Fax: 312.587.0606

JeffB,

Well, I've to admit that I did not check supermarket's shelves in search of canned raviolis recently. In fact I have rarely seengood quality canned raviolis on this side of the Atlantic, but in Europe many years ago, I used to buy canned meat-stuffed pasta, such as cannelloni, Lasagna, or raviolis, usually in a tomato sauce, from manufacturers such as Buitoni, Panzani, Barilla, Rivoire & Carret, and many others.
And they were much more edible that the horrific canned mini raviolis by Chef Boyardee's (or another brand I forgot the name of, perhaps Italian-American or something like that) that many American housewives fed their children with in the early 70's.