I’m savouring “Tortellini or Dumplings?” – a Korean spin on tortellini in brodo (tortellini soup) where Osteria Francescana serves twisted dumplings in seaweed stock instead of traditional capon broth – when Bottura himself walks in. The desire to eat at one of the world’s best restaurants is what initially piqued my interest in this place, but what brought me here tonight is the delicious bite on my spoon: tortellini.
Tortellini – a circular-shaped pasta, twisted around a filling of mortadella, prosciutto, pork loin and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese – are the quintessential pasta varietal here in Italy’s hilly Emilia-Romagna region. But while there is no question that tortellini hails from Emilia-Romagna, scholars, chefs and locals have bickered for centuries about which of the region’s two rival medieval powerhouses can lay claim to the honour: Modena or Bologna?
I eat tortellini far too rarely! Maybe bc most mass-produced stuff isn’t worth it, and it’s rare to see them in restaurants (outside of ‘in brodo’) vs. ravioli and other stuffed pasta like tortelloni or agnolotti.
It’s both interesting and a bit sad for me how some pasta dishes aren’t seen as much on menus as in the past. I recall seeing stuffed shells, manicotti/cannelloni on many menus in the 70s. For some reason, they seem to have fallen out of favor. My late mother loved stuffed shells and she would have been especially sad to witness this change.
And I was surprised to see the dearth of Italian restaurants in Japan where lasagna isn’t offered. It’s an easy dish for a restaurant to keep prepared for quick serving, and although Japanese people profess to like it, I rarely saw it. I asked some Italian chefs in Japan why it wasn’t offered, but never could get a defining answer. BTW, after Chinese food, I without a doubt, I would say that Italian food is the most popular foreign cuisine in Japan. Much of it (too much of it, if you ask me) is changed for the Japanese palate, but Italian restaurants are ubiquitous in most Japanese cities.
Stuffed shells / manicotti are much more likely to be on the menu at Italian-American / “red sauce” restaurants in the US. At Italian-Italian places I often look for lasagne, but it’s usually a special rather than a permanent menu fixture, perhaps because of the effort involved vs. other pasta dishes.
Speaking of Japanese Italian, one of my favorite lunch spots used to be a “Tokyo Italian” cafe by day and a high end sushi spot by night. They had a few incongruous menu items (like “Chinese” chicken salad – still delicious), but the ingredient quality and care of preparation for the simplest of dishes were just outstanding. I was very sad when they had to close during the pandemic (the sushi place reopened, but the lunch menu never came back).
I’m happy to hear that stuffed shells, etc. are still available on some Italian restaurant menus!
As for the Japanese run Italian restaurant you wrote of, there’s a subcategory of Italian restaurants called “Itameshi”. I’m personally not a fan, but it’s very popular in Japan and likely somewhat vaguely similar to the restaurant you miss.
One reason I’m not a fan is that the owner of the Italian restaurant in Tokyo I was the chef (maybe “cook” is a better description) of in 1996 decided to change the menu to one of Italian-American / traditional Italian to Itameshi because he was afraid Japanese weren’t ready to accept Italian food which wasn’t Itameshi. I couldn’t and didn’t want to cook Itameshi and we parted ways. I decided that I would never again have a boss who was previously a friend. Such arrangements are just too fraught with the possibility of failure.
I wouldn’t say that lasagna is an easy dish for a restaurant (or just in general) to make. It’s certainly more involved than cacio e pepe
I see manicotti & cannelloni on menus at red sauce Eyetalian places here in the US, but it’s not my preferred style of Italian, which is old world / regional.
That said, a good lasagna with just the right tenderness and bite of fresh pasta, not too much sauce or drowning in melted cheese, easy on the bechamel is a thing to behold.
I’m rather fond of SK’s mushroom lasagna, but bc I find it such a PITA I usually have my PIC prepare it
Sorry for not being clear when I said that lasagna was easy to make. What I was attempting to say that once a large pan/casserole dish of it was made, it was easy to serve up a single dish/order of it by topping it off with some more sauce and maybe some more cheese, Japanese customers CAN be quite impatient and keeping them waiting (other than in line to get in a restaurant which they oddly don’t complain about) isn’t something they put up with quietly.
Ah, my bad. Yes, once it’s done it’s easily portioned and doled out.
I’m kind of surprised at the unruliness and impatience of Japanese customers. How does that gel with the general expectation of being polite, displaying good manners, and emphasizing the collective over the individual?
No problem about that so don’t give it a second thought.
Regarding the other issue, you’ve never truly experienced the old adage “the customer is always right” until you’ve experienced it in Japan where the local translation is “the customer is king”. It’s gotten so out of hand that government(s) have begun to pass ordinances to control it.
As for stuffed shells, manicotti, and so forth, I’m in agreement with the others - see lots of such dishes on local red sauce/ traditional Italian-American menus. (I’m in Pasadena, CA, and while I know LA has changed since you moved away, there are still a decent number of such restaurants).
Looking on Yelp for Las Vegas, searching specifically for manicotti, shows more than a few places offering it. I neglected to look for stuffed shells, though. (The latter is a dish I make often at home.)
As for the manicotti, I looked it up like you did and as you said, there are quite a few places here in Vegas that offer it. I don’t eat out much (by choice), but if I’m in the mood for manicotti, I’ll try one of the places listed. Regarding the stuffed shells, those were my late mother”s favorite. I like them, but prefer manicotti or cannelloni.
