ITALIAN TWIST

Pasta Bolognese goes vegan

M OVE over, vapid and flavorless vegan dishes — of which there are plenty — Eric Ripert has got you beat. The Le Bernardin genius has started serving a meatless, gluten-free “spaghetti Bolognese” ($14) at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar in the Galleria across from his main restaurant. It’s a dream come true for anyone who shuns high-calorie, stomach-bloating animal flesh and carbs — but craves the heartwarming flavor and tactile pleasure of Italian food.

At most places that play the healthy pasta card, foodie snobs like me pretend to love it and then race home for a box of Ronzoni. Not here.

Ripert’s playful, wholesome interpretation of a classic dish is uniquely great-tasting and steeped in soul-satisfying Italian warmth. Spaghetti squash stands in for spaghetti, as it often does, but here it’s more successful. The squash is pulled from the oven early, so it has a convincing al dente heft.

The slow-cooked sauce of tomatoes, garlic, onions, red wine and herbes de Provence boasts the rugged quality of the best Italian-American red sauce. And rich ground white-bottom mushrooms could easily be mistaken for beef, veal or pork.

“The mushrooms have a lot of flavor, and the dish goes really well with red wine,” Ripert tells me. “The beauty of it is that it’s much lighter than real Bolognese, so you can drink and eat more without feeling full.”

The dish, available only at dinner, has quickly caught on. “We’re getting 30 or 40 orders a night,” Ripert says.

It could augur a new direction for the three-Michelin-starred chef bestknown as a seafood wizard.

“I’m not going vegan,” Ripert says with a laugh. “But I’m contemplating the idea of a vegan or vegetarian menu option at Le Bernardin.”