Pasta Fights Back

With the popularity of the Atkins diet, you might think that pasta is on its way out. However, it's valiantly fighting back against obsolescence!

The spectacular Italian grocery store A. L. Bazzini sells a wondrous variety of artisanal pasta, including: Spinosi, Martelli (dried for 50 hours at a low temperature), Latini, Manicaretti Rustichella d'Abruzzo (extruded through hand-carved bronze dies), and chocolate egg tagliatelle produced by La Favorita Figh.

After choosing your favorite pasta shapes, check out the olive oil sale near the front door. Add a bottle to your shopping basket, and then rustle up an aglio olio at home. I would have done the same last night, but I was scheduled to meet a friend for a pasta dinner!

Selected Italian restaurants in New York are known for their homemade pasta, and Vice Versa is one of them. From the moment you see the steel-grey awning, you know this isn't just another Theatre District dive serving unappetizingly mushy spaghetti. No, Vice Versa takes pride in their sea bass ravioli, squid ink tagliolini and strozzapreti with duck ragout. My friend and I enjoyed plump pumpkin ravioli in a classic butter and sage sauce and a tangle of spaghettini with sweet crabmeat in a fresh tomato sauce accented with black olives. (Of course, my carbo-loading was not complete until I'd ordered the gooey warm chocolate cake with vanilla gelato. No matter how many times I see this cake on a dessert menu, I can never resist it.)

A. L. Bazzini Co, Inc., 339 Greenwich St., (212) 334-1280. Vice Versa, 325 W. 51st St., (212) 399-9291.