NYC Restaurants

When you enter Nonna Dora, sleek new restaurant and pasta bar in Kip’s Bay, you will notice a room to the left side enclosed in glass. This is where the magic happens. That’s because this is where you will find Addolorata Marzovilla, who came to the United States in the 1970s, making Puglia-style pasta. She’s been making it for more than 70 years and has been nicknamed the “pasta machine.” Some of the more popular pastas being made include orecchiette, cavatelli, and malloreddus.

We counted more than twenty pastas on the menu, including Cavatelli with broccoli rabe and toasted almonds; Cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta with tomato and basil; Cansoncelli, beet-filled pasta garnished with lemon zest and poppy seeds; and Orecchiette in a rabbit ragu.

We tried the Cappelletti in Brodo with pasta made three ways. The green pasta is stuffed with spinach, the white is filled with veal and red is stuffed with ricotta. It’s served in a light broth with grated parmesan and is excellent.

Other offerings include bar snacks such as Parmigiano Reggiano, aged 2 months from Emilia Romagna, and antipasti with baked eggplant, octopus salad and Dora’s Sunday meatballs. There’s also a refrigerated section where you can purchase Dora’s pasta to prepare at home.

From the bar comes an interesting selection of negroni and Italian-style tiki drinks along with a lengthy list of Italian wines.