Pasta and pastries in Rockland are Jeanne Muchnick's Best Thing She Ate This Week
Pasta and pastries — what could be better? At Flours Pasta & Bakeshop in Haverstraw you can find both. The fact that it's run by an always-smiling engaged couple Sofia Todisco and Alex Kasman only make it that much sweeter.
That, plus the pasta is really good. Todisco uses 14 different types of flours to make an array of items including traditional semolina, 00 flour and einkorn, which has a higher protein and fiber content. Different flours are used, too, for various pastas, cookies and cakes.
She sources locally milled whole grain flours from River Valley Community Grains (from Marksboro, NJ) as well as Italy for her more traditional pasta flours (such as 00 and semolina). This, she said, makes a difference for those with gluten sensitivities as her pasta is easier to digest because of the flour and how it's processed.
Todisco also cooks with a heavy dose of inspiration from her grandmother, Clara Rothenberg, who passed away two months after her shop opened.
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That thoughtfulness and attention to detail is what makes her casarecce with a super light vodka sauce, garlicky greens and parmesan curls, the best thing I ate this week. I also thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate mocha cake made with cold brew.
The café also does breakfast foods like a granola bowl with Greek yogurt; ricotta cookie crunch bowl (with lemon honey ricotta and almond pistachio sour cherry cookie crumble) and a market toast (I tried the smoked trout salad with crème fraiche, shaved asparagus and microgreens on locally made sourdough). Eggs, potato hash browns and thick-cut bacon round out some of her breakfast sides.
Todisco said it's all about using good, uncomplicated ingredients (both she and Kasman are self-taught chefs; Kasman was in construction before this). "We don't add any fillers to our sauces, so what you're tasting are the simple ingredients that our ancestors cooked with," said Todisco. "Nothing more."
Of course it's hard to be here and not be swayed by the gorgeous-looking baked goods. They're always rotating but the chocolate mocha cake ranks up there as a personal fave as do the chocolate chip cookies made with rye flour. Other goodies include raspberry lemon cornmeal cake; fudge brownie shortbread cookies; Meyer lemon poppy seed scones; oatmeal ginger cranberry cookies; pistachio almond sour cherry biscuits and sea salt fudge brownies.
Plus you'll always find a new cake from Kasman who's been busy experimenting. Among his delights (which you can always special order) are a matcha green tea creation with raspberry lemonade icing and strawberry compote filling. He also recently baked a blood orange cake with blood orange curd with swiss meringue and vanilla buttercream, which was kind of like an Italian creamsicle, and an almond cake with raspberry rhubarb compote and a lemon Swiss buttercream.
The pastries, along with the food, highlight what's in season, and Todisco stressed that that's the focus. "We do not overcomplicate, we are not fancy and fussy, but we do get inspiration from the natural world around us — we will highlight native New York bounty, whether it be ramps, rhubarb or flowers."
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Also their real secret — no shortenings ever enter the building. "It's all butter, baby! All the time," said Todisco.
The 30-seat shop, which opened last July, has a cozy homey feel due in part to the local art on the walls (which is for sale) — they're from the Garner Arts Center in Garnerville — and the furniture, the bulk of which came from Todisco's grandmother's home.
It's also airy and bright, with Kasman often seen in the window extruding, nesting and packaging pasta. He also makes their ravioli and gnocchi there as well.
You'll also find items from other local purveyors such as jams from West Nyack-based Birdie's Batch and honey from Tarrytown-based Fly Honey Farms. Plus they've recently launched a sourdough CSA with Sparkill-based Charlotte's Home Kitchen.
And there's plenty of packaged pasta to buy to go along with frozen soups and sauces. (Nonna's Beef Ragu started it all!) With each, you'll find an expiration date as everything is super-fresh.
Now for the fun part: The two met when Todisco was working her stand at the Piermont farmers market. (Her pasta business, which she started in 2020, had previously been called Sofia's Feast.) Todisco had been making pasta professionally since 2019, learning her skills from a sfoglina (pasta maker) when she was in Bologna working at a farm/restaurant. But before then, and as far as she can remember, she was making pasta with her grandmother, whose parents moved from northern Italy to New Jersey when Rothenberg was in utero.
Todisco's goal had been to start a catering business, which she did for a while — before COVID changed her direction. In 2020 she shifted to meal delivery and later, farmers markets. The two got to chatting when Kasman stopped by her Piermont booth; then asked for a private cooking lesson as a way to get to know her better.
The rest is more or less history with Todisco later teaching Kasman, who's a welder by trade, how to cook pasta and baked goods and join her business (he always had a passion for cooking and in fact, learned from his grandfather). The two are getting married in May 2025.
If you go
Address: 11 New Main St., Haverstraw, 845-241-5131, flourspastabakeshop.com
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Saturday; to 3 p.m. Sunday
Good to know: On Thursday and Fridays if you buy a pound of pasta, you get the second for $6 ; Todisco also occassionally does pop-ups like coursed-dinners for holidays as well as pizza parties, kid's cooking classes and more. Mother's Day Afternoon Tea on Mothers Day is their next event in addition to a Full Moon party to celebrate the Strawberry Moon on June 20th complete with a tarot reader, live music, a flower bloom bar, art and more.
Definitely check out: Nonna's Beef Ragu, sold frozen to go (along with other sauces and soups), is Todisco's grandmother's recipe and the inspiration behind the business. Worth noting too: almost all the decor, tables, chairs, art, etc. are from Rothenberg's house, which adds a homey specialness to the place.
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Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @jeannemuchnick or via the lohudfood newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Muchnick's Best Thing I Ate: pasta, pastries in Haverstraw NY
