In the Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy where Grueneberg staged, cooks were making pasta to order—not just boiling and saucing, but also rolling and filling.
“It was amazing how fresh it was when you’d eat it,” Grueneberg says. “I really wanted to take that back to the U.S.”
Grueneberg says she’s always loved pasta. “It’s the most delicious food ever,” she says, and who can argue with her? “I wanted to have a restaurant devoted to pasta. Many Italian restaurants are pizza and pasta, but why isn’t there just a pasta-focused restaurant? The concept really grew as we looked for spaces and found our designer. It was rooted in the idea of pasta as the center of the restaurant.”