The menu at D’Amico’s Italian Market Cafe (5510 Morningside (713-526-3400) notes that the Wild Mushroom and Walnut Tortellini ($10.95) was voted Best Pasta in 1997. There’s no indication of who voted it the best pasta, but one taste and you can certainly see their point of view. Sheets of homemade black pepper pasta (you can see the cracked pepper flakes in every piece) are stuffed with a filling of wild mushrooms, walnuts and cheese and sealed off like dumplings. Cooked al dente and served with a white wine, lemon-butter sauce, they’re so good, they go very, very quickly.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2010.