Pastabilities

Review Highlights

Guy Fieri pulls a 'Triple D double dip' in Syracuse's Armory Square — standing directly across from Kitty Hoynes, another show-featured spot — to visit Pastabilities, the Italian joint locals just call 'Pastas.' Owner Karyn Korteling started this place in 1982 with $15,000 as a self-service cafeteria, and over four decades she's built it into a downtown institution so beloved that, as Guy puts it, 'you can ask almost anybody in this town have they been to Pastabilities and their response would be I love that place.' She's since added a full-service bakery across the street cranking out the stretch bread and flatbread dough that anchor the menu. Guy settles in to taste the legendary Hot Tomato Oil, a duck bacon flatbread, and a Central New York original called Wicked Chicken Riggies.

• ·Hot Tomato Oil with Stretch Bread — the restaurant's signature, served complimentary to every table. Pure olive oil infused with garlic caramelized low and slow for 15 minutes, then combined with California tomato puree, salt, honey, and a chili mixture, with the garlic chunks added back for texture. Served with house-made stretch bread from the bakery across the street. Guy: 'It just 100% reminds me of Dale's beginning, which in my world is a very important thing. The intensity of the flavor of garlic is of course there, it's not overly spicy by any means. You need like a special license to serve that hot oil up. It's like nothing else, it's absolutely amazing. The first time I had it years ago I was addicted — just begging the waitress to give that to you'
• ·Duck Bacon Flatbread — duck breast cured three days in a rub of minced garlic, cracked pepper, sugar, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, salt, and pink salt, then smoked 1½ hours over charcoal and apple wood. Sliced thin and crisped, it tops a flatbread with garlic oil, fresh mozzarella, dried cherries, caramelized onions, and Humboldt Fog cheese, finished with pomegranate syrup, basil, and parsley. Guy: 'The crust on this flatbread is righteous. The bread has such great chew, the fresh mozz, tartness of that cherry, a little bit of funk deliciousness coming from that Humboldt Fog — nobody takes the lead role except the duck bacon. It's probably one of the best duck dishes I've ever had. This is baller'
• ·Wicked Chicken Riggies — a Central New York signature. Sliced chicken breast browned, then tossed in a sauce built from olive oil, garlic, sweet onion, sweet peppers, jalapeño, oregano, red chili flake, cayenne, and house tomato sauce, spiked with 'the Wicked' — a blend of chipotle, chili peppers, and chili spiced oil. Cream is added to create what Guy calls a 'spicy tomato Alfredo,' simmered 45 minutes, then folded with rigatoni and finished with locatelli cheese and green onion. Guy: 'Winner winner Wicked chicken dinner. That's an awesome dish. Pasta's nice, not too much sauce, not overly spicy. A real simple dish but quality ingredients made the right way and it's a staple here at Pastabilities'

Guy is moved by what Karyn Korteling has built over four decades from a $15,000 self-service cafeteria. He compares the Hot Tomato Oil to his mentor's cooking — the highest compliment in his vocabulary — and calls the duck bacon flatbread one of the best duck dishes and pizzas he's ever had. But his closing lands on something bigger: 'This is what I'm trying to find — everyday people making real handmade food, working with their family, working with their friends, working with their community, and doing what's right.' He tells Karyn directly: 'Very proud of you.'

About

Pastabilities is a family-run Italian restaurant in Syracuse's Armory Square, founded in 1982 by Karyn Korteling with just $15,000 as a self-service cafeteria that grew, over 43 years, into one of the most beloved independent restaurants in Central New York. The menu is built on from-scratch fundamentals — house-made pasta, sauces, and the famous stretch bread — anchored by the complimentary Hot Tomato Oil, a garlic-and-chili-infused olive oil that has inspired a cult following and is now sold online. Karyn later expanded across the street with Pasta's Daily Bread, a full-service bakery that supplies the stretch bread and flatbread dough for the restaurant. Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Pastabilities helped anchor the revitalization of Armory Square and has won Readers' Choice Awards for Best Restaurant in Syracuse three years running.