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Although we admit that we'd indulge in a pasta-based dish any which way, there is something about the 100-layer lasagna that used to be served at iconic NYC eatery Del Posto that quite literally makes us dizzy with excitement at the mere thought of biting into it.
The food used to be served at Del Posto when Mark Ladner was still the executive chef on premise. The gastronomical guru unfortunately left his post a few years ago while the dining destination itself actually officially shuttered last year and, with it, New Yorkers waved goodbye to 100 layers of pure delicacy.
Alas, culinary aficionados will be able to revel in the treat once more at Babbo, Joe Bastianich's Italian restaurant on Waverly Place. The eatery's newest chef, Youjin Jung, has, in fact, added the over-the-top and hearty lasagna to her menu.
The food, originally created by Ladner himself, was famously inspired by the iconic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. As history has it, the chef wanted to create a dish inspired by the story for a party thrown by Mario Batali. He came up with a layered lasagna dish with a single dried pea within it.
Jung's version features 50 layers of thin, homemade pasta that alternate with another 50 layers of sauce. The whole thing is cut into large rectangular pieces and grilled on one side to, according to an official statement, "mimic the taste off the corner slice: a little crunchy and slightly burned."
One lucky diner will get to find a single pea in his or her dish, of course. What that really means to us is that we clearly have an excuse to indulge in more than a single slice of the lasagna per sitting.
And if the special lasagna has got you in the mood for even more pasta, consider heading to La Devozione in Manhattan. The new shop and Italian restaurant inside of Chelsea Market offers various pasta experiences for all levels of noodle lovers and they are all epic.
As they say in Italy: buon appetito, folks!