At Marinelli’s, our Italian restaurant, we make a variety of pasta daily for our guests to enjoy. So, how exactly do we make fresh pasta? The ingredients list is quite short. Only three ingredients are needed – flour, eggs, and a bit of salt if you prefer. The debate among culinary professionals rests on the number of eggs, egg whites, or just egg yolks. “The recipe that we use at Marinelli’s is egg yolk only, which I feel gives the pasta a nice color and great texture,” says Chef Mark, Assistant Room Chef in Marinelli’s.

In the traditional manner, after the flour is sifted, a mound is made with the flour and the inside flattened into a bowl shape. Eggs would then be broken into the “bowl.” The eggs are carefully beaten, gradually adding more and more flour from the rim of the “bowl” until it’s completely combined and the dough is a smooth texture. Next the dough is kneaded for as much as 15 minutes before being rolled and cut.

According to Chef Mark, the technique used by our culinary team to cut the pasta depends upon the pasta shape itself. Both the gnocchi and cavatelli are rolled out by hand; however, only the gnocchi is hand cut. Our cavatelli is run through a special machine to give it its special shape. (For inquiring minds, cavatelli is small, shell-like shaped pasta which is curved inwards and gnocchi is an Italian potato base dumpling.)

At Marinelli’s, we make our Ricotta Gnocchi, Cavatelli Amatriciana, Wild Mushroom Tortelloni, and Four Cheese Ravioli in house daily or every other day, depending upon demand. For our stuffed pastas, we make the fillings in-house and then proceed to stuff the pasta that we also make fresh daily in-house. In addition, our Lasagna utilizes the same pasta that we use for our stuffed pastas. With the many different shapes pasta takes on, it is no wonder that making it has become an art form.

If you don’t have the time to make your own pasta, we encourage you to come down and try some of ours. Marinelli’s serves homemade pasta from rigatoni to ravioli, not to mention the tasty entrees above, daily starting at 5 pm.

Common Terms
Maki – sushi rolled up using a bamboo mat. It’s normally wrapped in nori (dried seaweed), but it is sometimes served in soy paper or thinly sliced cucumber. The maki rolls are cut into six or eight pieces. This particular type of sushi is acceptable to eat with your fingers or chopsticks and can be dipped in soy sauce or topped with wasabi.

Nigiri – sliced raw fish with a molded ball of rice underneath. Most sushi chefs add a dab of wasabi in between the rice and fish, so no additional sauce is needed. Only the fish side of the nigiri should be dipped into soy sauce and it can be eaten with your hands.

Sashimi – sliced raw fish served without rice. Sashimi should be eaten with chopsticks and can be eaten with wasabi mixed into the soy sauce.

Basics
The base of most sushi is a special variety of rice called awase-zu. The short-grain rice is seasoned with rice vinegar, salt and sugar. The mixture itself is called shari and is a bit sticky so it can be formed into shapes for nigiri or rolled to make maki.

Not all sushi has to be eaten with chopsticks. It’s actually recommended to eat maki and nigiri with your fingers. But, it’s proper to always use chopsticks for sashimi. Whenever you’re eating sushi, a plate with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce is always presented. The ginger is used as a palate cleanser between bites while the wasabi can be used for additional spice on maki and sashimi (nigiri typically comes seasoned with it already). Wasabi should only be mixed into soy sauce when eating sashimi. Plain soy sauce can be used with nigiri, but only the fish part of the sushi should be dipped. These are just the traditional sushi eating techniques. Feel free to eat and season your sushi any way you please.

For the First-Timer
If you’re getting ready for your first time eating sushi, we recommend going with friends who have tried it before. Sitting at the sushi bar will allow you to talk directly to the sushi chef and get their personal recommendations. Our chefs at Oyster Bar are always happy to help the experienced or novice eaters. If you’re adventurous, you can ask for omakase, meaning “to trust the chef”. Our sushi chefs will make anything they like and send it your way!