Knead & Co. Pasta Bar and Market
Lamb Sugo on Papardelle, Peas, Mint, Crème Fraiche
Spicy Fennel Sausage on Spelt Cavatelli, Koda Farms Chick Peas, Rapini
Animal Style Cannoli
Chocolate Chip Cookie
Recently opened in the Grand Central Market, Pasadena Chef Bruce Kalman bringing his passion for rustic Italian Cooking to the DTLA dining scene, Knead & Co has been met with mixed reviews largely as a result of location, packaging and presentation for its pricepoint, though negative comments about the food itself are rare to be found.
Located behind a long wall-side counter and kitchen, Kalman himself actually promoting a new Executive Chef at Union so that he can focus on making Knead excel from the start, the idea of a “Pasta Bar and Market” is really not all that different from many indoor markets where housemade noodles and sauces are sold, but taking the idea to a new level by not only making the items on site, but also selling cooked-to-order meals the scene at Knead is at once controlled and frenetic, a limited bar area allowing diners to watch the process while tables nearby provide shared seating with those eating Salads, Pastrami, Barbecue and Tacos.
Completely impressed by a lone visit to Union, one of my best meals in 2015 despite internationally seeing more than fifty Michelin Stars, Knead & Co sees Kalman and team in their comfort zone as creators, purveyors, teachers and servers, an Easter special of Lamb Sugo joining nearly dozen hand crafted pastas typically found amongst the daily offering while panini, starters, salads and breakfast all take a similar hand crafted and made-to-order approach.
Obviously not looking for Union’s ambiance, biodegradable take-out packaging replacing plates while plasticware serves for steel, pricing at Knead trends high for a “Market” setting, but taking into account the likes of Eggslut and Belcampo, the $50 exchanged for two pastas plus two desserts and bread should not really seem all that unfair.
Citing top quality purveyors for everything from organic grains to meats, it was (unfortunately) as a solo that Knead was visited on late Saturday afternoon and with Bruce present as a teacher at both the hand-cranked pasta station throughout the majority of my visit it was at the Chef’s suggestion that first bites were taken of curly Spelt Cavatelli with crumbled housemade Fennel Sausage and a vegetal broth of spices, chickpeas and papini, the dish eating as much like a soup as it did a pasta and as rustic as it was satisfying.
Topping twenty-dollars for the special, a price not so different from Colorado where the lamb is raised, Kalman boldly opted to pair thick sugo with crème Fraiche atop fresh ribbons of Papardelle along with more traditional condiments like mint and peas, the flavors an across-the-bow shot of flavor that nonetheless ate lighter than most would have suspected, though less so when all the remaining sauce was soaked up with a soft roll.
Limited to just three sweets, the filled-on-order Cannoli no-different than that at Jon & Vinny’s with an “Animal Style” ode speaking to the narrow yet immensely crunchy shell around sweet cheese, a Chocolate Chip cookie may not seem like something worth ordering from an “Italian” restaurant, yet with a soft center and immense chunks of dark chocolate the execution was as good as would be expected and more befitting the “Bar and Market” concept than was the daily market tart that I now regret not ordering.
www.kneadpasta.com
