Recommended: Al Dente Pasta Shop
Recommended: Al Dente Pasta Shop
An Italian Mexican love story in Ireland
Disclosure: Ruth and Luca of Al Dente Pasta Shop gifted me 3 samples of their fresh, handmade pasta, with no request for promotion or control over my subsequent content. All comments are my own.
I recently tried a sample of Al Dente Pasta Shop handmade pasta which had been delivered to my front door by a charming, dog-loving couple and I was impressed. Some people might think pasta is just pasta, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from TikTok, it’s that Italians take pasta very very seriously. For me, Al Dente definitely hit the spot. I had to know more about this lovely couple and their story.
It turned out to involve a Mexicana and an Italiano falling in love in New York City, a shared passion for food and a lot of travelling. The Italiano is Luca Sarrocco, a chef from Vincenza near Venice, and like all good Italians, he learned first from his Nonna before training in culinary school. Having built up experience abroad in Mexico, the US and Switzerland, Luca has spent time here at Six by Nico and Crudo in Sandymount. The Mexicana is Ruth Espinosa, who hails from a family-owned restaurant in Guanajuato, Mexico and holds a degree in Business Creation and Development. Having met Luca through work in New York, she has also spent time at Crudo as their general manager.
In June 2023, the couple struck out for themselves and started producing their own pasta. As their ordered machinery would take 3 months to arrive from Italy, it was literally all hands on deck in the early days to meet their initial orders for the Crudo pop-up at Roe & Co Distillery. Life did get a little easier from August onwards when the new machinery allowed them to ramp up production and gave them time to focus on growing the nascent business.
Industry friends and former colleagues have been very supportive, introducing Ruth and Luca to retailers or purchasing the pasta for use in their restaurants, including Crudo, Piglet Wine Bar and Niall Sabongi’s Seafood Cafe. Deliveries go out three times a week and packets of the fresh pasta are now available for sale in retailers such as Lennox Street Grocer, Lilliput, A Taste of Italy and Little Italy (a tough sell according to Ruth!), and they are hopeful of shortly securing a spot in other high-profile retailers.
But the story doesn’t stop there. Following some trial runs in shops, Ruth and Luca are now offering freshly cooked pasta dishes for delivery on Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to Blanchardstown and the surrounding areas. The offering is classic Italian, including maccheroncini al pesto, penne arriabata, and the delightful sounding cacio e pepe ravioli. All the ingredients used are Irish, with the exception of the flour which comes from Italy.
In the long term, the couple’s goal is to open their own restaurant, drawing on their combined Italian and Mexican heritages to create something a bit special. In the meantime, watch out for Al Dente in your local grocer (a full listing of all retail stockists and restaurants is available on their website) or order from their kitchen to try at home.
Follow Al Dente Pasta Shop on Instagram.