L’Unico Alimentari, one of The Oregonian’s 10 best new food carts of 2020 and makers of some of Portland’s best pasta, period, has closed unexpectedly just before its first anniversary, according to a post on Instagram.
Portland native Caitlyn Hamel-Spencer and Italian chef Lanfranco Paliotti opened L’Unico Alimentari in the early days of the pandemic, joining the tradition of great Portland pasta carts Artigiano and the now brick-and-mortar Gumba, serving gorgeous Italian food informed by Paliotti’s childhood and experience cooking at some of the top restaurants in London (Oblix), New York (Boulud Sud) and San Francisco (Acquarello). In those early days, the cart specialized in fried starters such as arancini and fritto misto. But after scaling back on those prep-intensive fried starters, diners soon discovered the delicious pastas, which, though unassuming, could hold their own against all but a handful of Portland’s best restaurants.
“In life, every ending is just a new beginning,” reads the post, which was first spotted by Eater PDX. “Yesterday was our last service, we decided to take two different paths.”
Here’s what we wrote about L’Unico Alimentari in our guide to Portland’s best new food carts of 2020:
Outside of the ever-popular meatball Parm, L’Unico Alimentari’s signature dish is probably the Dungeness crab bucatini, with hollow noodles slicked in Pecorino Romano and emulsified pasta water that serve as a pedestal for barely adorned lumps of crab. Paliotti has a knack for finding quality ingredients, then each shine on its own. That also goes for the tornado-shaped torchio pasta with its ragu of wild mushrooms, and a recent twisted trofie pasta with a vibrant pesto, stretchy burrata and some de-skinned “confit” tomatoes, each made with Paliotti’s favorite imported Rusticera Abruzzo noodles and more of that reserved pasta water. Home cooks have probably read about the importance of using a little salty, starchy pasta water to punch up the flavor and texture of your pasta. After trying L’Unico Alimentari, you might never dump your pasta water out again.
-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell
The Link LonkMarch 02, 2021 at 04:06AM
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L’Unico Alimentari, one of Portland’s best pasta spots, has closed - OregonLive
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