Five noodles I ate 🍜
What’s the difference between a noodle and a pasta, anyways?
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we slurp and fork our way through pasta town. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Tuna mac salad at home
Based off the Subtly Asian Macaroni Salad.
I recently became the proud owner of a set of these adorable OXO bento boxes. I have an obsession with food containers and I’m always convinced that the right set of tupperware will magically change my life and eating habits. Which is true, if you believe that magic, like everything else, is simply iterative and incremental in nature. I have been having a lot of fun packing and feeding myself healthy balanced lunches by pretending I’m a toddler who hates eating proper meals (which I sort of am). There are two 1-cup sized spaces in this box, and I like to fill one of the compartments with tuna macaroni salad. It’s the perfect summer lunch food: A combination of protein, carbs, and mayo, in a not-too-intimidating, yet distinctly flavorful form. I like to base it off my Subtly Asian Macaroni Salad recipe, stirring in a can of tuna, and ¼ cup of pickle relish. The best part is that this recipe makes 4 servings and keeps about 4 days, which is perfect for meal prep.
Fusilloni di Gragnano con scampi, burrata, pomodorini e rucola at Piccola Cucina Osteria Siciliana
196 Spring St, New York, NY 10012
Piccola Cucina Osteria Siciliana is home to the $11 pasta lunch — one of my favorite pre-pandemic treats. Usually I get the Bucatini alle Sarde, but this time I sprung for possibly one of their more instagrammable options: the Fusilloni di Gragnano con scampi, which came topped with a whole cherry red langoustine, sliced in half. I’m not usually a fan of fusilli, but I’ve never had it fresh before. The pasta was a larger than usual springy spiral, and the red sauce coated it well. There were negligible amounts of arugula and a small splash of melted burrata, enough to label it in the menu but not enough to taste. I’m not sure if my stomach’s weakened, or the pastas have become too heavy at this restaurant, but I loved the flavor but not how it made my stomach feel afterwards. (To be fair, I ate the whole pan of pasta.)
Cavatelli cacio e pepe con lime e bottarga at Piccola Cucina Osteria Siciliana
196 Spring St, New York, NY 10012
I had a few bites of the cavatelli cacio e pepe off my friend Claire’s plate. Now, I want to preface it by saying I’ve not really had cacio e pepe before. So, take my judgment with a grain of salt— and plenty of cheese, which this plate had a lot of. So much, in fact, that Claire said it was more like a macaroni and cheese than cacio e pepe. While I did enjoy the creative zest of lime and sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top, I found this dish a little heavier than I hoped, just like the fusilli. The cream was evident when it started to congeal halfway through the plate— never a great look.
Ankake udon at Raku
48 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012
It’s almost been a year since Raku opened my eyes to how good noodle soup can be – and I’ve been back many times since. After a few experiments, I’ve settled on the ankake udon as my default order. I’m convinced that this simple, $14 udon of “heritage egg in thick soup,” which is sort of like an egg drop soup udon, is simple perfection. No meat or extra toppings needed. It comes with a handful of blanched bright green baby spinach and grated ginger, and it is the perfect not-chicken soup for the soul. If you want, though, you can add a side of excellent vegetable or shrimp tempura, to dip in the thick broth.
Wagyu udon at Raku
48 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012
I am not sure what makes this udon worth almost three times as much as the plain ankake udon, but my guess would be the “a5 miyazaki beef.” Now, I am not a meat expert so I have no idea what “a5 miyazaki beef” means, so I like to believe it was blessed by Hayao Miyazaki himself. I imagine the beef floating in a little luxurious sauna, like these duck-spirits in the bathhouse from Spirited Away. Is this udon soup worth nearly $40? My notoriously opinionated eating companion seemed to think so, even calling it “the best noodle soup he’s ever had.”
Stay cool,
Soph
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