Signature dish of Nobie’s chef born of a borrowed Bolognese recipe
Chef Martin Stayer’s surprise signature dish born of borrowed Bolognese recipe
OF all the dishes on his debut menu at Nobie’s, chef-owner Martin Stayer couldn’t have guessed that the pasta with Bolognese sauce would emerge as the restaurant’s signature dish.
He’s had customers who have been in multiple times and not eaten anything other than the swirl of tagliatelle glossed with a rich, hearty meat sauce dusted with Parmesan cheese. This might be frustrating, even annoying, for a chef who’s invested a lot of effort and creative thought in a full menu of contemporary farm-to-fork fare.
But Stayer’s taking it as a compliment — even if the recipe isn’t his.
The dish, Nonno’s Pasta, is based on a recipe for a classic Bolognese sauce from his father-in-law — his wife Sara’s dad, Tom Cortesi, who lives in the Chicago area. Stayer said he first had it five years ago at Cortesi’s home where it was served as a pasta starter, not as a main. At a later date Stayer said he watched Cortesi make it. “It has a sweetness and an unctuous mouthfeel,” Stayer says. “The first time I ate it, I said man, this is good Bolognese.”
That sauce, obviously, is the key to the dish. At Nobie’s it is served on a wide, house-made tagilatelle pasta. While Stayer has played with some of the ingredients (and cooked it much longer — low and slow — than the original recipe), it is essentially the same sauce made by Coresi, who learned it from his mother.
Though the sauce echoes other Bolognese recipes found online and in cookbooks (ground beef and pork cooked with aromatics and tomato and enriched with whole milk), it differs in some interesting ways. One, it does not contain Italian tomatoes, only tomato paste. It also employs red wine and red wine vinegar, and, for the creamy undertow, there’s both milk and cream.
Nobie’s opened earlier this year in a snug 1930s bungalow in Montrose. Stayer operates the 57seat restaurant with his wife, Sara, who serves as general manager and sommelier. For Stayer, his restaurant is a Houston homecoming. He began his career as an intern at Scott Tycer’s Aries and eventually moved to Chicago where he found work at the molecular gastronomy restaurant Moto. Family brought him back to Houston two years ago, and while he was tending bar at Coltivare he also was searching for a space for his own restaurant.
Nobie’s happened quickly and Stayer gave it the nickname of his maternal grandmother, Zenobia Martin, who lives in Houston. The dish Nonno’s Pasta (not to be confused with Nobie) has been on the menu since day one. The biggest challenge is consistency, so that the sauce tastes the same for its repeat fans.
For the home cook Stayer has shortened the cooking time. The yield is easily enough to feed 12, which is entirely the point. If you’re going to go through the trouble to make Bolognese sauce, you might as well have enough to throw some in the freezer.
Has Cortesi sampled the dish at Nobie’s that bears his Italian moniker for grandfather? Oh yes, Stayer said: “He always says, ‘I can’t believe you call it my sauce. It’s so much better.’ But I bet my kids still prefer his over mine.”