Chef Michael White’s Perfect Late-Night Pasta | GQ
If you want pasta so good it’ll make you want to cry (no shame in that), go to Michael White. Or maybe more accurately, go to any of his 16 knock-your-date’s-socks-off restaurants scattered throughout the world, including the two-Michelin-starred Marea, Costata in SoHo, Osteria Morini, Ai Fiori (also Michelin rated), Al Molo in Hong Kong, or the recently opened Vaucluse on Park Avenue. Chef White, you see, is an authority on Italian cuisine, despite the fact that he doesn’t have a drop of Italian blood and was born and raised in Wisconsin.
So you’d think a chef synonymous with the word “pasta” would be sick of it by now, but that’s not entirely the case. “A lot of pastry chefs don’t eat sweets,” says White. “I still love pasta, but I eat it maybe once a week.” White knows what’s good and what’s easy. That’s why when he’s off the clock he’s whipping up a bowl of quick-and-easy carbonara, a dish that originated as a hearty meal made for weary coal workers around Rome. White’s version, made with fresh pasta, has all the hallmarks of a classic: a rich, creamy sauce, salty cubes of bacon, coarse black pepper—finished with a handful of arugula to add a fresh note and a nice bite. Best of all, it’s ready to eat in less than 10 minutes.