At Perla, chef Michael Toscano stuffs slow-braised beef shoulder into short little envelopes of homemade pasta. He then coats the pasta with a thin layer of the stock that the beef was cooked in. All of the pastas at Perla are superb, but this is the one to order if you want to get a sense of Toscano's talent for preparing beef. [Photo]

Daniel Humm's only pasta dish at The Nomad is a bowl of delicate tagliatelle noodles that are tossed in a bright sauce made with Meyer lemon, and topped with big chunks of fresh King crab. The citrus flavor might take you by surprise, but the sauce is a great counterpart to the sweet crab meat. This is one of the best non-Italianiate pasta dishes in New York right now.[Photo]

At Carlo Mirarchi's Bushwick fine dining restaurant, diners are treated to several courses of delicate, handmade pasta. One of these dishes is a single circular pasta pocket stuffed with a lump of nduja, which is a peppery, spreadable pork sausage. This is a two-bite dish, but it packs a huge punch. In December, Bloomberg critic Ryan Sutton proclaimed that this was the "dish of the year." [Flickr/Jmoranmoya]

The menu at Andrew Carmellini's stylish new restaurant in the Public Theater includes two pasta dishes that wouldn't be out of place at his Italian hit, Locanda Verde. The rigatoni has a mellow tomato sauce with nubs of good Italian pork sausage, perfectly cooked broccoli rabe heads, and chickpeas. This is a very satisfying red sauce dish, and the broccoli adds a nice, fresh kick. [Photo]

Like Carlo Mirarchi, chef Angelo Romano has a talent for creating original fresh pasta dishes. The menu changes frequently at The Pines, but if the restaurant is serving the cappellacci, that is the one to order. The dish is made with folded sheets of pasta that are stuffed with tender oxtail and served with a rich seafood broth (right now it's made with lobster). The cappellacci is surf, turf, and pasta, all in one. [Photo]

Arthur on Smith's version of pasta carbonara strays from the traditional recipe a bit — parsley and breadcrumbs are involved — but the base ingredients of egg, salty guanciale, and Pecorino cheese are still front and center. In an interesting twist, Arthur on Smith's pasta carbonara features a soft-poached egg that oozes warm yolk all over the noodles when you break it with a fork. [Photo]

Arlington Club serves a lot of over-the-top dishes, and the macaroni and cheese is no exception. Each tube of macaroni is placed in a pan vertically then filled with a thick smoked gouda sauce. The dish is finished in the broiler, so that each pasta piece gets a nice, charred tip. Some critics think this dish is too decadent, while others love the excess. [Photo]

Le Philosophe was one of the big surprises of the fall. This casual Noho restaurant serves a fresh take on classic French bistro fare courtesy of Jean Georges vet Matthew Aita. The menu includes one superb pasta dish: garganelli with wild mushrooms, spinach, and hazelnuts. The first thing you taste is the rich, earthy flavor of the mushroom ragu, then the bitter notes from the greens. The nuts provide a bit of crunch. $17.[Instagram/foodiemagcian]