"I've always made my own pasta. That's something I've done for a long time and has been a part of each menu at every establishment I've worked," the James Beard House-nominated chef says. "But this is the first time I've made extruded
And it is; at
Conley's new rustic Italian eatery is located along West Palm Beach’s up-and-coming Dixie corridor, just south of the Southern Boulevard bridge and only a few blocks north of Kitchen (another neighborhood eatery that opened several years ago). It is Conley's third establishment following his well-known Palm Beach restaurants Buccan (a modern American grill that opened in 2011), Imoto (the intimate, Asian-focused extension of Buccan that opened in 2012), and the Sandwich Shop at Buccan, which opened in 2014.
While the
Of the half-dozen pasta dishes that have debuted on the
To make the pasta, Conley uses aromatic squid ink to color the classic egg-based pasta, lending the dish its silky black hue. While squid ink itself may smell strong, the resulting noodles are relatively neutral in flavor, paired up against a warm yellow saffron gemelli to give the dish an extra hint of flavor.
In Italy, it's considered traditional to pair the squid ink pasta with seafood, as they are with this dish, drenched in a zesty puttanesca sauce accented with ingredients like green olive, which play well with a subtle hint of brininess. Then, to give it his own twist, Conley adds wine-marinated chunks of tender octopus to the dish, and finishes with a dash of olive
"It's the perfect accompaniment to the squid ink pasta," says Conley.
Nicole Danna is a food writer covering Broward and Palm Beach counties. To get the latest in food and drink news in South Florida, follow her @SoFloNicole or find her latest food pics on the BPB New Times Food & Drink Instagram.