I love the tajarin at Spinasse. Beautiful texture, simple preparation (ragu or butter & sage) with clean, yet, flavors.

Rabbit Agnolotti at Cafe Juanita is excellent, too. Rich & hearty.

Spinasse and Cafe Juanita roll their pasta. At Tavolata the pasta is extruded. Rigatoni with spicy Italian sausage is my favorite. Cooked al dente, it has the ideal texture and packs much flavor. Depending on the day or the week, Tavolata also serves spaghetti with meatballs. It is a simple and comforting as it sounds but it also has a luxurious texture.

The best pasta I had this year was the "special" 5-cheese Bacon macaroni I made on 4/20.

Elemental Next Door served this pasta dish called "Gnudi". It's like an inside out ravioli. I had never heard of it before but it was incredibly delicious. The pasta was cooked with herbs and then tossed with olive oil and parsley.

I have to say, I love pasta at the Pink Door. They had a spring pasta with "everything green" that was fresh and lovely - asparagus, herbs, peas, a bit of cream. So delightful! It was served with long pasta(my favorite - I've found that with pasta, it is a texture thing for me - I love the long stuff!). Also, their lasagna is fabulous - three house-made pasta layers - in between is bechamel, pesto and marinara. If I really need comfort food, that's it!

The tagliatelle at Cantinetta in wallingford pretty much blew my mind. It was served with bolognaise sauce that rivaled Bizzarro (which I was very partial to being as I used to be the chef). Also the gnocchi with rabbit cacciatore at Branzino was truly spectacular. The rabbit braised for hours tossed with carmelized onions and a buttery white wine sauce with tomatoes and chanterells....yum!