Flavor and presentation are two hallmarks of the cheese wheel pasta at Dolly’s.
Courtesy of Dolly’s
Sometimes it’s not just about the food—it’s about the show. That was the case for Dolly Batathota, owner of cozy El Cerrito wine bar Dolly’s, which has become a hit since opening two years ago largely on the back of its centerpiece menu item: fettuccini mixed in a 100-pound wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
“I first saw it when I was walking around in Florence,” recalls Batathota of the inspiration behind her signature dish, which she serves plain and topped with smoked salmon or prosciutto. “I saw the cheese wheel at a table, and just remember thinking, I really, really want that so badly.”
Commonly referred to stateside as cheese wheel pasta, the preparation is relatively common in Italy and has been used as a flashy way to prepare the cheesy, peppery pasta dish cacio e pepe. But it has only recently shown up widely in the East Bay and surrounding Bay Area. Locanda, the local chain of Italian restaurants with five East Bay locations, makes it tableside at its Campbell restaurant in a wheel of pecorino, as did the recently-shuttered Three.one Four Pizzeria in Berkeley.
And now this cheesy display has come to Danville. Just opened downtown, Taverna Sorrentina is offering cacio e pepe with pasta that is cooked al dente in the kitchen and then finished at the table inside small wheels of flame-lit pecorino romano.
“You can eat anywhere, but it’s not everywhere you can be entertained,” says Sorrentina co-owner Valerio Piscopo. “We want to put on a show.”
Dining and Cooking