Toronto’s top 10 new pasta dishes

Bar Ardo’s linguine

10 This plate subtly glorifies both the delicate and bold flavours of the sea. Chef Roberto Marotta went with imported small-batch Sicilian linguine for its hearty starch release, which—when combined with stock, butter, extra-virgin olive oil and lemon two ways (zest, thyme)—creates a deliciously dense sauce. The citrus complements the brine of the pearlescent wild shrimp peppered throughout the pasta, and some house-made bottarga sets off an umami tsunami. $27, barardo.ca

Vinoteca Pompette’s pappardelle ragu

9 Rolled into broad ribbons that wear the warmly spiced braise perfectly, chef Martine Bauer’s handmade pappardelle combines the comfort of lasagna with the rustic elegance of a composed dish. On the plate, a nest of noodles is enveloped in a luxurious slow-cooked sauce of confited duck legs (the tender gams seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove), house duck stock and local preserved tomatoes. A snowfall of parmigiano completes the hearty and homey dish. $29, pompette.ca/vinoteca

Occhiolino’s tonnarelli aglio olio e peperoncino

8 Sure, it’s easy to throw together a late-night plate of AOP thanks to its streamlined ingredient list, but we’d rather eat chef Nick Manzone’s instead. For his take, he tosses Puglian-milled semolina tonnarelli (like spaghetti but made using a chitarra) in top-notch olive oil, garlic, chilies and parsley. Not-your-average breadcrumbs—made using day-old house focaccia toasted with more olive oil, capers, chilies and parsley—provide some crunch. $18, occhiolino.ca

Contrada’s gnocchi

7 Each pillowy piece of chef Mike Vieira’s ricotta gnocchi is hand-rolled over a cavarola board to maximize surface area for his luscious sauce—a layered blanket of passata, partially sun-dried tomatoes, Calabrian chilies, butter and mascarpone. A sprinkling of crunchy roasted hazelnuts wakes up the palate so it doesn’t get too comfortable in those plush pillows. $24, contradarestaurant.com

Osteria Scossa’s bucatini and rapini

6 This dish cleverly uses spaghetti’s tubular cousin—freshly extruded and cooked al dente—to its full advantage. The hollow pasta is tossed with bright rapini pesto, toasted almonds, house-made peperoncini and more rapini, thinly sliced and sautéed this time. The verdant sauce clings beautifully to the porous pasta, also finding its way inside each tubular noodle. $16, chefshall.com/osteria-scossa

Milos’s lobster pasta

5 Italy doesn’t get to hog all the pasta points. Milos’s simple but decadent Athenian lobster spaghetti is a dish fit for the gods. The kitchen takes perfectly steamed Nova Scotia lobster; sautés it in extra-virgin olive oil with garlic, sea salt and a slow-cooked sauce of cherry tomatoes; then drapes it over a mound of imported spaghetti noodles like Zeus on Mount Olympus. Market price, estiatoriomilos.com

Cafe Renée’s rigatoni alla vodka

4 Handmade and robust, chef Nick Liu’s chubby rigatoni noodles bounce back with each bite. They also hold their own against his creamy, punchy chili-flecked tomato sauce, which has a meaty savouriness from a surprising source: a rich dashi broth. Meanwhile, the vodka works away diligently in the background as a palate cleanser after each mouthful. $24, cafereneebar.com

Porzia’s lasagna bolognese

3 Chef Basilio Pesce’s four-inch-tall 14-layer lasagna is a feat of modern architecture, but its taste is as classic as they come. He layers paper-thin sheets of house-made pasta with piles of pecorino romano, parmigiano-reggiano, shredded mozz and slow-cooked beef bolognese. The result is so silky, tangy and comforting that a nap afterward is almost more tempting than an order of Porzia’s tiramisu soft serve. $29, porzias.com

Tiny Market Co.’s canestri

2 From the Annex’s pocket-sized pasta shop comes this intensely flavourful canestri fennel sausage ragu. The noodle is ridged and sturdy, so it doesn’t cave under the weight of chef Erich Mrak’s rich ragu. The sauce—a blend of local roast pork shoulder, San Mar­zano tomatoes, mascarpone cheese and boatloads of fennel—finds its way into the nooks and crannies of each toothsome tube. Toasted focaccia breadcrumbs, fresh mint and house-made ricotta add texture, a hit of freshness and even more indulgence. $16, tinymarketco.com

Bar Prima’s agnolotti doppio

1 Chef Nick Iaboni’s doubly delicious agnolotti doppio are stuffed two ways: on one side, a rich and rustic filling of roasted squash, garlic, a hint of maple syrup and mascarpone, and on the other, a palate-cleansing blend of fresh herbs, pecorino and more of that mascarpone, because cheese. The bilateral noods, finished with a dusting of sage powder and a lashing of 10-year-old balsamic, arrive in a pool of taleggio espuma, which balances the gentle sweetness of the dish with some necessary funk. $32, barprima.ca