What exactly is a pasta bar? This new Italian restaurant in Wynwood can show you

If you don’t know precisely what a pasta bar is, a new Italian restaurant in Wynwood is prepared to demonstrate.

Co-founded by Gabriela Chiriboga and Samuel Ghouzi, the hospitality team behind the Asian food hall 1-800-Lucky in Wynwood, Otto & Pepe specializes in pasta. There are a few non-pasta related items on the menu — a couple of salads, desserts and a dish involving fried eggs, potatoes and black truffle — but everything else? Pasta.

Chiriboga and Ghouzi say the concept was born from their love of pasta and a “desire to create the ultimate gathering place for locals and tourists.”

Located around the corner from R House and a few doors down from Ossobucco steakhouse, which was named one of the best new restaurants of 2024 by Yelp, Otto & Pepe aims to show off aperitivo culture and the pleasures of natural wine.

And while you can sit outdoors or at a table, the restaurant’s centerpiece is a 21-seat “pasta bar” where diners can watch their delightfully carby meals come to life.

The menu comes with an impressive pedigree, created by Italian chef Viviana Varese, who’s known for her Michelin-starred restaurant Viva in Milan as well as W Villadorta Country restaurant in Sicily. It’s divided into pasta with red sauces (pomodoro, Bolognese, lasagna with beef and bacon) and white sauce pastas (cannelloni, cacio e pepe and the intriguing tubetto con patate, basilico e pistacchio, which involves potatoes, Scamorza cheese, pistachio cream, basil and toasted pine nuts).

There’s also a category for “more pasta,” which includes a pesto dish, another with pasta and branzino, and one with zucchini cream and prawns.

“Each dish pays homage to classic recipes and the Italian principle of respecting the raw ingredient,” Varese said.

The restaurant, which features a garden with gumbo limbo trees and other foliage, also boasts an “enoteca” or wine shop with a communal table. The wine menu is curated by Miami’s Karina Iglesias of NIU Kitchen, with an emphasis on Italian regions (though there are choices from Spain and France as well).

Matias Iriarte created the drinks menu, which embraces the classics (spritzes and Negronis) while putting a creative spin on some versions, like the truffle Negroni, the strawberry-balsamic spritz and the orange and macadamia mimosa.

Otto & Pepe

Where: 126 NW 27th St, Miami

Hours: 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday-Monday; closed Tuesday and Wednesday

More information: ottoandpepe.com or 305-989-3181

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