Some things from childhood don’t have a beginning. They were just always there.
Your parents. The house you grew up in. In my family, pasta.
My mom made spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday. Sometimes it was rigatoni. On special Sundays, there was sausage. On very special Sundays, ravioli. And on the most special Sundays of all, braciole.
During the week, we ate supper. But Sunday afternoon was Sunday dinner, and it was always pasta. I can still see that pot steaming up the kitchen windows in the middle of winter.
So when Yelp named the best pasta place in the entire country, I wanted to know where it was. It turns out it’s right here in New Jersey.
Here’s my confession: I’ve never been. That changes this month.
In the meantime, tonight’s dinner is a jar of four-cheese sauce, a tray of store-bought meatballs and a Crock-Pot. Mom would not approve.
SEE ALSO: Foodie experts claim to have found the very best pasta in New Jersey
Tonight’s dinner: jarred sauce, store-bought meatballs and the Crock-Pot. Not exactly Sunday dinner. | Eric ‘EJ’ Johnson / Townsquare MediaDenville’s Pasta Shop beat everyone
The Pasta Shop on First Avenue in Denville is No. 1 on Yelp’s first-ever Top 100 Pasta Places in the U.S. Yelp ranked businesses in its pasta shops category by how many reviews they had and how high they were rated, with a limit of 10 spots per state.
Yelp released the list ahead of National Pasta Day on Oct. 17. It says searches for “pasta shops” on its site rose 52% over the past year.
Executive chef Tommy Pollio grew up in Denville. He started cooking as a teenager at Sergio & Co., the mozzarella and sandwich shop co-owner Sergio Sciancalepore opened in town in 1999. Pollio spent more than 15 years cooking in kitchens around the country before the two opened The Pasta Shop together in 2018, Patch reported.
Yelp singled out one part of the experience: you can watch your pasta being made right in front of you.
What to order, and when to go
Reviewers keep naming the rigatoni vodka, the carbonara, the linguine and clams and the wood-fired chicken parm. The homemade mozzarella sticks get plenty of love, too.
Plan ahead. There are no reservations and only a handful of tables, so expect a wait. The Pasta Shop is open Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m., according to Shop Morris County. You can also order takeout through its website.
It’s closed Sunday and Monday. Of course it is. Somebody has to be home making Sunday dinner.
More NJ spots made the list
Pasta Volo in Asbury Park landed at No. 8. L&D Sapore Ravioli & Cheese in Middlesex came in at No. 57, and Mavi’s Pizza and Pasta in Fort Lee also made the cut.
My mom’s Sunday dinner will always be No. 1 in my book. The Crock-Pot, not so much. But I’m willing to find out how close Denville comes.
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