Message: | Reading Irene Viribila's rave of Angelini Osteria in last Sunday's LAT (with which I agreed--I know some here do not) got me to thinking of where one buys packaged pasta in this town, the dry kind I mean (fresh egg pasta subject of different discussion). S. Irene mentioned in the review that Gino Angelini used the Latini brand for his spaghetti carbonara. I've seen it around, but I'm not sure where. It's supposed to be very good. Here's what we use chez nous (you will note that all are Italian durum wheat--if someone has found good domestic dry pasta, let's hear about it):
DeCecco--boring but not bad, available everywhere
Rummo--cheap but not bad, available at Costco in six-packs. Small selection of types (penne, fusili, etc.). Great for big families, kids, etc.
Toscania--a new brand we just found at Trader Joes'. Excellent. Interesting shapes like Tacconi. Pasta scored to hold sauce. Forgot the price, but it's TJ's so it's probably a good deal.
Castellana--excellent regional pastas including black squid. Available at Surfa's which, for those of you who don't know it, is a terrific though pricey store on Venice Blvd. in the furniture zone (Helm's Bakery adjacent). Surfa's has many Italian pastas including that famous brand from Puglia (name escapes me) which is also for sale at Angeli's.
Well, that's all for now. I'm also interested in bottled sauces. Let's face it, there are a lot of times we don't want to start from scratch. Rao's, of course, is a nonpareil. |