No One Was Taking Pics at Pasta Restaurant Named for Instagram, Writer Says

The Pastagram continues to have an identity crisis

As critic Steve Cuozzo pointed out, FiDi’s new pasta shop named after Instagram hawks solid bowls of noodles but fails to deliver on its promise of photogenic food and space. Apparently, no one is very interested in taking photos at the Pastagram, according to writer Rachel Sugar, who visited recently. She echoes Cuozzo’s sentiments that the pasta and restaurant aren’t as Instagram-ready as promised. “It’s true that the Pastagram is much better at making pasta than it is at being a backdrop for Instagrams,” Sugar writes. “What is fascinating is that it wants to try. It is a normal little quick lunch spot, with some good details and ugly floors and mediocre light and a weirdly sexy Instagram, and it wants to be a photogenic star.”

A natural wine fare and Georgian dinner

BackBar’s Zak Pelaccio will bring back his annual natural wine fair, “Peripheral,” on November 3, collaborating with over 50 natural winemakers from around the world for a full evening of wine tasting in the front and backyards at his Hudson restaurant. In addition to the wine, there will be a Georgian dinner leading up to the events on November 2, where Pelaccio will prepare a Supra-style meal of whole lamb, skewers of grilled pork, and whole grilled chickens with housemade flatbreads, grilled vegetables, and salads. Tickets for the dinner are $45 in advance and $55 on the day of, and tickets for the wine fair are $35 in advance and $45 on the day.

Contra/Wildair cookbook launch party

Chefs Fabián von Hauske and Jeremiah Stone of Contra and Wildair have a new cookbook coming out called A Very Serious Cookbook. The chefs will host a launch party at the Eater Test Kitchen and will be joined by the cookbook’s co-author Alison Roman for a panel hosted by Eater’s Daniela Galarza. Tickets are $50 and include light bites from the cookbook, wine, and a copy of the cookbook.

Iconic ice cream parlor caught up in wage lawsuit

Former employees of the last remaining location of longstanding ice cream parlor and restaurant Jahn’s filed a lawsuit alleging that they were not paid minimum and overtime wages. The former employees also allege that management failed to provide wage notices and accurate wage statements. See the lawsuit in full below.