hill country observerThe independent newspaper of eastern New York, southwestern Vermont and the Berkshires

 

News & Issues July 2022

 

Fresh pasta, made to order

One-woman operation rewards Saratoga appetites

 

Rose Contadino feeds her rolled dough through a pasta cutter to turn it into fettuccine noodles at her shop in Saratoga Springs. Joan K. Lentini photo

 

Rose Contadino feeds her rolled dough through a pasta cutter to turn it into fettuccine noodles at her shop in Saratoga Springs. Joan K. Lentini photo

 

By STACEY MORRIS
Contributing writer

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.


Rose Contadino stands in front of her industrial-sized pasta cutter, filling an order for a pound of linguine.


Dressed in a red and white apron, she patiently lifts a lattice of fresh dough into a vertical bed, and holds it gently so the soft yellow sheet won’t collapse as it glides through the slicer. Seconds later, an artfully coiled pile of fresh linguine sits ready for packaging.


Contadino sprinkles a handful of cornmeal in the bottom of a cardboard box, to prevent the strands from sticking, places the box in a white paper bag bearing her signature red M logo and slides it across the counter to a happy customer.


For more than two years, Contadino has run Mangiamo, a 600-square-foot, one-woman pasta factory where, four days a week, she creates custom fresh pastas, ranging from spaghetti, farfalle (bow ties) and fettuccine to weekly ravioli specials.


“This week it’s cheese ravioli,” she said. “Next week it’ll either be meat or mushroom.”
Contadino’s foray into the pasta-making business was born of both passion and personal necessity.


Growing up in Stamford, Conn., her Italian-American family would spend Saturdays gathering all the essential elements for Sunday dinner from Italian specialty stores: meat, vegetables, imported cheeses and crusty bread. Notably absent from the list was pasta, because that was always made the day of, after church in the kitchen.


“As soon as I was tall enough to stand at the counter, I started helping my grandmother and mother with the pasta making,” she remembered. “It was difficult at first, but I kept at it.”
At the time, she never thought about making pasta as a career. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, Contadino worked for years as a graphic designer, creating logos, brochures and websites for businesses and brands.


But then a few years ago, she moved from her hometown in Connecticut to Saratoga Springs.

 

New home, new business
Contadino had visited the Spa City on yearly vacations and was enchanted by the area’s history and cultural attractions.


“Between the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the museums, and music venues, there’s always something to do here,” she said.


When she moved here, Contadino wanted a new enterprise as well as change of scenery.
“I knew I wanted to be in the food business and figured it was easier to just start my own,” she explained.


When a friend raved about her homemade pasta, adding that she should be selling it, a light bulb went on.


Contadino started selling her wares at the Saratoga Farmers Market and offering the occasional “Pasta-Making 101” classes at people’s homes. When finding suitable commercial kitchen space became an ongoing problem, Contadino sought a storefront where she could both make and sell her pasta.


The perfect home turned out to be a historic three-story brick building at 75 Woodlawn Ave. that’s subdivided into office and retail space. And like her pasta, which draws its inspiration from those beloved Sunday dinners of years ago, her business name pays homage to her family’s weekly gatherings: “Mangiamo” is the jovial Italian command, “Let’s eat!”


The Covid pandemic struck soon after Contadino opened her store, but she wasn’t deterred. She relied heavily on customer pre-orders and pick-up at the store’s entrance. The cottage-like pasta shop, a few blocks west of Broadway is in a mostly residential neighborhood, but pasta lovers manage to find Mangiamo.


Jasper Alexander, the longtime chef of Hattie’s Restaurant on Phila Street, was so inspired by Contadino’s fresh pasta that he began putting it on the restaurant’s menu. (Hattie’s, an 84-year-old institution, is beloved for its Louisiana-inspired menu of both classic and nouveau Southern cuisine.)


“Rose makes us a special crawfish ravioli that our customers love,” Alexander said. “This week, we’re doing a smoked-pork shoulder ravioli paired with a grilled peach sauce. We like to focus on Southern applications. Anytime we’ve served her ravioli, it sells out.”


Alexander said another bonus with fresh pasta is its quicker cooking time. Depending on the variety, it’s ready in three to seven minutes.

 

Marinara, pesto and more
Though Mangiamo doesn’t officially open until noon (customers can stop for pick-ups as early as 11 a.m.), Contadino is behind her counter by 9 a.m., mixing pasta dough from the vats of semolina and 00-grade durum wheat. Italian pop songs waft from the stereo speakers as she pulls a giant brick of dough from the refrigerator to begin the extrusion process for the day’s linguine, spaghetti and ravioli.


Later, she’ll mix more dough in the 3-foot-tall industrial-strength dough mixer. She gently carts the fresh pasta strands from the slicer to the glass display case, where pasta sits side-by-side with Contadino’s fresh sauces.


“Growing up, my mom cooked every day,” she recalled. “We had homemade bread for our sandwiches and never had tomato sauce from the store. We canned them from the garden every fall. The first time I tried store-bought tomato sauce, it tasted like metal.”


Which explains why she feels so strongly about a proper accompaniment to her pasta. Contadino calls her glass jars of pasta sauce “15 Minute Marinara.” The base ingredient is whole plum tomatoes, skinned and pureed. Attached to each jar is a satchel of flavor enhancers: a peeled shallot, peeled garlic clove, and fresh basil leaves, plus instructions on a paper scroll — “everything you need for a great sauce,” she explained.


Fresh pesto is also available, like everything Contadino creates, on a “first come, first served” basis.


“Traditional basil pesto is the most popular, but I also do artichoke, sun-dried tomato, and arugula pesto,” she said. “I love supporting the farmers market by getting basil and arugula for my pesto there.”


Her newest creations are filled-to-order cannoli, made with her family recipe using whipped ricotta cheese.


“Every day is different,” she said. “Some days I sell out of everything, and other days I have five pounds of pasta left.”


To help ensure that customers’ needs are met with minimal waste, Contadino encourages pre-orders by phone or e-mail.


Saratoga Springs resident Susan Bergmann has been a Mangiamo customer since the shop opened more than two years ago.


“Rose’s pasta is so much better than what I was buying at the grocery store,” Bergmann said. “I often get the spaghetti or linguine, because it freezes well and cooks in about five minutes.”
She also said Mangiamo’s rotating ravioli varieties have become a family favorite.


“They require different sauces depending on the filling, and Rose makes excellent pesto,” she said.


Contadino’s fresh pasta retails for $10 per pound, and ravioli ranges from $10-$16 per dozen, depending on the filling. For the month of July, her pasta special is farfalle.
“It’s perfect in summer pasta salads,” Contadino said.


Between the making pasta, shopping for supplies on her days off, and handling her own branding and marketing, Contadino says by the end of each day, she’s more than a little wiped out. But it’s the praise from customers and newly minted converts that keeps her going.


“I don’t know what I’d do without Mangiamo’s pasta,” Bergmann said. “I can never go back to boxed pasta now.”

 

Mangiamo is open from noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 75 Woodlawn Ave. in Saratoga Springs. Visit www.mangiamoeats.com for more information.