Gemma Foods
Pasta shop · West Town ·
Handmade pastas and sauces, seasonally driven, available for pickup or shipping.
Handmade pastas and sauces, seasonally driven, available for pickup or shipping.
"A pasta manufacturer in West Town currently run by Chef Tony Quartaro; Quartaro, who has experience at Balena and Formento’s, will now lead Boka’s catering operation and is being tapped to fill the catering void left by the recent split with Tentori." - Ashok Selvam
"Chef Tony Quartaro started Gemma Foods during COVID-19 lockdown to provide customers with comforting meals they could prepare at home and after two years the West Town spot is now offering instant gratification with lunch service. Grab a stool and dig into seasonally rotating pasta such as bucatini with cacio e pepe, kale gnocchi, or canestri in vodka sauce, or place an order through Toast to pick up." - Sam Nelson
"A West Town pasta maker reached an agreement to be stocked in the relaunch and received praise from the chain’s co-founder for its product, selected as part of a more curated vendor lineup while some other local pasta restaurants were not invited back." - Ashok Selvam
"Sure, you could spend hours trying to make fresh bucatini at home, or you can leave the pasta-making to the professionals and head to Gemma Foods. The West Town store recently started serving lunch (dinner’s coming soon) with six options to choose from. There are some seats at the small counter for anyone looking to try a bowl of paccheri with Sunday gravy or green garlic sausage plin with rapini crema." - john ringor, veda kilaru, nick allen
"At 1117 W. Grand Avenue in West Town, I've watched Gemma Foods—run by Tony Quartaro—grow from selling fresh take-home pasta to launching a full ready-to-eat lunch service (lunch debuts Wednesday, April 17). For two years they sold fresh pasta for customers to boil at home; now they're offering rotating pasta specials, focaccia, and entree salads like a kale Caesar as a prelude to eventual dinner service, with seasonality central to the menu. Quartaro already has ramp-forward dishes lined up — carrot gnocchi with ramp, lemon, and mascarpone and radiatori alla ramp carbonara — plus meatballs he says he “thinks deeply” about and a Sunday pork neck ragu. Expect lasagna in both a meaty red-sauce version and vegetarian variations (mushroom ragu or a lighter layered eggplant), vodka sauce made with pride, and classics such as cacio e pepe, canestrini, and paccheri; most pasta is hand-cut, though a few shapes are extruded. Gemma opened in March 2022, did stints at Revival Food Hall and Time Out Market Chicago to grow the brand, and is part of a local pasta-revolution push that included Tortello and Flour Power; Quartaro's résumé includes Balena, the Bristol, Formento’s, and A16. Located across from D’Amato’s Bakery and Bari Foods on Grand, the owners hope the pandemic-driven appetite for carbs and the work-from-home crowd will help sustain their counter of ready meals." - Ashok Selvam
