by Diana Cercone
Pasta—in its various styles, ingredients, preparations and names—can be found in every cuisine throughout the world. Still, it is those of Italy that we associate best when we hear the word pasta. (Sorry, Marco Polo, you did not bring back pasta from China. It was being made in Sicily and Italy long before you were born.)
Today Italy boasts more than 300 pasta shapes. Italians so pride themselves in their pasta, they even have a museum devoted to it in Rome, the Museo Nazionale della Pasta. But, perhaps, Federico Fellini had said it best: “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.”
And from what I’d been hearing, the owners of LoRé Pasta in Hopewell, NJ, have been conjuring up some magic of their own. Brothers Mario and Richard Zeck are the pasta-makers behind LoRé as well as their partner, Alex Spitale.
So on a recent Monday afternoon, I find myself sitting on a chair at one of their patio tables outside their shop on East Broad Street talking with Mario, the head pasta maker.
“Growing up in an Italian family,” he says, “everything revolves around family, laughter and food … excessive food.” It was hard not to be seduced by the tastes, aromas and palate pleasures of pasta, he says. “My mother would come home from work and make penne with marinara sauce and toss the sauced penne with fresh ricotta.” If he closes his eyes, he says, he can still taste his grandmother’s manicotti and rigatoni. If he wasn’t watching them in the kitchen, he was watching Lydia Bastinach’s cooking show with his Italian grandfather.
By the time Mario was in high school, he was making crespelle, an Italian crepe. After high school he headed to Le Cordon Bleu in Las Vegas. From there he worked his way up the culinary ladder in both Italian and French restaurants, including with Chef Marco Sgrizzi at Parma where he learned the art of making fresh pastas.
Call it Kismet—or maybe, pasta’s spell—but after five years in Vegas’ top restaurants, including a stint in D.C. at Equinox under Chef Todd Grey, Mario knew making fresh pasta was what he wanted to do. That, and to come back home to his roots in New Jersey. His decision brought Mario’s father and brother flying into Vegas where the three rented a car and headed East for home in Jersey. On the way they not only hatched a business plan to open a pasta shop but stopped at Arcobaleno pasta machine company in Lancaster and walked out with the first of their pasta machines. The year was 2014.
In the 10 years since, LoRé has established itself as a local leader of handmade pastas, serving both a wide swath of customers from Hunterdon, Mercer and Bucks counties and restaurants, including FiNNBAR in Frenchtown, the Broadmoor in Lambertville, the Logan Inn in New Hope, Witherspoon Grill in Princeton, Sergeantsville Inn and Lola’s in Ardmore. Come Saturdays, you’ll find them at the West Windsor Farmers Market.
Mondays are when the three partners gather to prep for the week’s pastas and specialities. Though they have some pastas that are made religiously every day, such as rigatoni and ravioli, other shapes and ingredients can be featured, such as a recent carrot linguine made with local carrots. (I paired the pasta with LoRé’s marinara sauce which underscored the fresh, garden taste of the carrots and that of the tomato and basil sauce further. Delizioso!
The partners are all about local ingredients and supporting area farms, beginning with Alex and his wife’s farm, Chestnut Pond Farm in Robbinsville. Others include Blue Moon Acres, Zone 7, First Field, Lima Family Farm and Jeff’s Organic Market. For their hard winter wheat flour and einkorn (an ancient grain), they turn to Morganics Family Farm in Hillsboro. Says Mario, “We’re always looking for more local farms to use.”
Like countless generations before them, Mario says, “Our recipes are inspired by and created with variations of our grandmother’s.” To honor their grandmother, the brothers named their pasta company after her maiden name, LoRé. Her own grandparents emigrated from Sicily. Now, at 93, he says, she still inspires them.
Not surprising when Alex came on board two years ago, bringing his expertise as a chef at some of Jersey’s renowned restaurants, including Agricola in Princeton, he also brought his Italian grandmother’s recipes. Her cheese ravioli recipe is an ambrosial mix of four cheeses: ricotta, mascarpone, pecorino and provolone. All of which is tenderly wrapped in its own blanket of pasta dough.
Inside LoRé’s tidy storefront is their retail shop. A large refrigerated case holds the day’s wholesale pastas awaiting delivery and pick-up. To the right of the counter is a giant, glass refrigerated case brimming with containers of their pastas as well as prepared sauces, e.g., their signature sauces of marinara, meatball, and vodka. They are always creating new sauces, Mario says.
This winter look for their Bolognese, which simmers for 12 hours before they declare it’s ready. The addition of cream to an extra basil tomato sauce is the secret to their Pink Basil, their take on a virgin vodka sauce. Others to look for are Butter Parmigiano, Brown Butter Sage and Vodka Pepperoni. Then there are seasonal pastas, like this winter’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Pumpkin Ravioli.
Along with the sauces are containers of meatballs and prepared meals like lasagna. Each comes with directions for cooking, heating, baking or freezing. For home cooks who don’t want to make their own pasta, but want to make an accompanying sauce, LoRé has DIY kits, like its popular tortellini en brodo. A sure-fire way to step up your Italian culinary game.
When cooking their pasta, Mario recommends adding salt once the water boils—and only enough to make it slightly salty. “I usually add some of the pasta water after to adjust the consistency of the sauce with the pasta. If it’s too salty, it can ruin the dish. Also I often toss my pasta with Locatelli pecorino, which is a dry, salty sheep milk cheese.”
Like an open-kitchen, the pasta-making area is directly behind the retail space. Along with their original pasta machine, also known as an extruder, is another as well as a ravioli sheeter. All three use bronze dies. The bronze dies create a rough, porous texture to the produced pasta which allows the sauce to coat the pasta more effectively, improving the mouthfeel and flavor of the pasta dish.
With the two extruders, Mario says, they make around 30 different pasta shapes such as rigatoni and penne. The ravioli sheeter not only produces several different types of ravioli but also lasagna sheets, spaghetti all chitarra and fettuccine. All are vegan friendly. Their Strozzapreti pasta is gluten-free.
For most of their hand-rolled, hand-cut and stuffed pastas, such as Tortellini, Agnolotti and Raviolo, they use eggs and 00 flour. When hand-making their Cavatelli, Gnocchetti Sardi and Orecchiette, they use semolina flour, salt, warm water and a little olive oil.
Rigatoni is their most popular pasta. They’re easy to spear onto a fork, Mario says, and, for kids, they’re just fun to eat. Recalling his own childhood, he says, “You can stick your finger in one and eat around it.” (You just know he’s already taught his three young children to do just that.)
On the night I made LoRé’s Semolina Penne I paired it with their Meatball Sauce. Made with Alex’s grandmother’s all-beef meatball recipe, the rich and pleasantly spiced tomato sauce was generously studded with both large and small meatball chunks. The meaty sauce clung to the ridges of the penne, spilling into the tubes and creating a burst of flavorful sauce with each bite.
For dessert, I served LoRé’s Apple Pie Panna Cotta. The rich creaminess of the panna cotta was the perfect base for their seasonal apple pie topping. It was an immediate hit with their customers. Look for it and a Pear Panna Cotta this winter.
On Fridays, Mario says, they also bake several types of focaccia. Ordering ahead for any of their pastas, sauces and specialties is recommended. But just because LoRé’s website (www.lorepasta.com) says an item is sold out, Mario says, that may not always be. “If you come in and the item you want is sold out,” he says, “give us 10-20 minutes and we’ll make it for you.”
Now that’s what I call magic! Buon Appetito!
LoRé Pasta Shop is located at 71 East Broad Street in Hopewell, NJ. For more information, call 609-460-9009 or visit www.lorepasta.com.
Diana Cercone is an area freelance writer who specializes in food, art and travel.