When you think about meals that beat the heat, a big pile of pasta may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But if your family traces back to Southern Italy like mine does, a lovingly prepared bowl of cacio e pepe is actually the perfect heat wave dish. Dense mafalde noodles cooked al dente and smothered in a simple cheese sauce, plenty of Parmesan cheese grated on top and just a few pepper flakes make for a perfect hot summer lunch in my book.
Few Brooklyn spots fully deliver a perfect bowl of cacio e pepe, despite the dish’s popularity in recent years. But on a visit to Pasta Night in Prospect Heights, my server Emily set down a plate that hit every note.
Pasta Night is a recent Prospect Heights hangout and sister restaurant to Ciao Gloria, the cafe with a cult following opened by chef Renato Poliafito in fall 2019. The new spot was inspired by the popular monthly pasta nights Poliafito hosted at Ciao Gloria before the pandemic hit. Co-owned by Joseph “Joey” Catalanotti, Pasta Night sits directly across the street from Ciao Gloria in a space that used to be a men’s barber and clothing shop called Smokey Vale.
“The goal is to provide a neighborhood-style trattoria,” Poliafito told Brooklyn Paper. “We want to incorporate our community so they can have a place that’s comfortable and welcoming.”
The other dishes at Pasta Night are equally as satisfying. The arancini duo — one filled with cheesy spinach, the other with beef ragu —was topped with grated Parmesan on a bed of light, airy spinach. The Pope Benedict, a hefty stack of fatty prosciutto strands and a hollandaise coat atop an egg biscuit was an innovative bite from the restaurant’s new brunch menu, which softly launched a few weeks ago. The Burghy, a classic cheeseburger sweetened by bacon jam and served on an airy brioche bun, was equally excellent.
The unexpected winner here was the Insalata Della Casa, featuring fresh greens dressed in a champagne citrus vinaigrette, plus golden beets, goat cheese, oranges and candied sunflower seeds for an extra crunch. It makes me want to go back for the classic Caesar.
While the design cues of Ciao Gloria are very bright, Pasta Night is more Tuscan than Sicilian.
“You walk into Ciao Gloria, and there’s a chocolate chip cookie next to Amaretti,” Poliafito said. “That’s how I grew up. I wanted this place to also be Italian-American but more Italian-leaning than how I cut my teeth at Ciao Gloria.”
Poliafito’s parents are from Sicily, and he traveled to Italy frequently as a child; through its music and summery color palette, Pasta Night has the vividness of being in 1980s Southern Italy.
“My parents are immigrants from Sicily, so food was very important,” said Poliafito. “My mom would put espresso in my bottle with milk and sugar when I was young. But I had only explored this tiny part of Sicily growing up, and Pasta Night is the result of dozens and dozens of trips back to Italy. As my cooking history progressed, you find traditional Italian recipes working their way into American ones.”
Pasta Night is located at 575 Vanderbilt Ave. between Pacific and Dean streets. It is currently open Monday through Thursday from 3 to 10 p.m. The back courtyard is charming and perfect for their new weekend hours (Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.).
As a queer-owned restaurant, Pasta Night is also becoming a gathering spot for Brooklyn’s LGBTQIAP+ community. For Pride Month, the restaurant hosted its first “Sunday Sauced” event, “a boozy, queer, post-church Sunday dinner” featuring queer content creators.
“Italians really hold to this tenet that the dish can’t be altered,” said Poliafito. “But I’m a little more like, why not? Let’s innovate, let’s try new things.”
