While making our way from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on 187th Street and Belmont Avenue, we crossed the street to take some pictures of the church. As we continued walking towards Hugh’s Avenue on our way back to the car, we came upon Borgattis Ravioli and Egg Noodle shop.
I commented to both Tanya and Alexandra Maruri, our tour guide, from Bronx Historical Tours, that I had passed this shop many times and had always wanted to check it out. Encouraged by Alexandra to go in and meet the Borgatti family, we two Travelin' Cousins were immediately excited about the visit.
The impromptu stop was undoubtedly one of the high points of our day.
The Belmont section of the Bronx has certainly undergone many changes throughout the last eight decades, however, there’s a comfort in knowing that some things have stayed and remain the same in a neighborhood that is rooted in ethnic tradition.
As I walked into Borgatti’s I was triggered with a rush of memories from my own childhood and Italian upbringing. The only word I could think of to describe it was "old school." It felt like the shops I would go in with my grandmother when she would do her marketing. Specialty shops for everything, owned and managed by families. No slick displays or modern retail fixtures. Just a warm feeling of times gone by when the products and services spoke for themselves.
The rest of our visit was a pure delight as Christopher Borgatti, great-grandson of founder, Lindo Borgatti, imbued us with the history of his family's pasta shop and captivated us with a first-hand glimpse into their specialty pasta making.
Christopher was amazingly friendly and knowledgable and took us on a little guided pasta making tour of their noodles. Running the sheets of pasta through the cutting machine, which is in plain view for customers to see, we witnessed varying widths cut before our eyes.
For anyone growing up in an Italian household, with an Italian grandmother, the pasta machine is easily identified in an instant! Of course, Grandma's was much smaller and fit on the table. I still remember making pasta with her and both Tanya and I love the homemade tradition so much that we still continue it with our kids!
Fortunately, the store lives on!!
-Elisa
Borgatti's Ravioli & Egg Noodles
632 E 187th Street
Bronx, NY 10458
Phone: (718) 367-3799
STORE HOURS
Sunday & Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm
Saturday: 8:30am-6:00pm
Online Store:
www.borgattis.com/shop/