The Dish: Bucatini all'Amatriciana from Vita in Center City

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It's pasta weather, so we're making one of Rome's most famous dishes.

I head to Vita in Center City, where they're famous for the secret red door that leads into the restaurant.. But the recipe for their bucatini all'Amatriciana is a secret no longer!

We had this classic dish ready in less than 10 minutes. It's one of the specialties at the heart of the menu at Vita in Rittenhouse.

There's a gelateria up front. It opened last October, and you'll find coffee, pastries and homemade gelato.

Look to the left of the counter and you'll see a red refrigerator. That's actually a secret door that leads to a restaurant in the back, which opened this past May.

Reservations are still hard to get.

"That was never our intent," says owner Massimo Boni. "When we first opened, I was thinking: 'Who's going to come to a restaurant they never knew about?' But it's had quite the opposite effect."

For Boni, it all comes honestly.

"I was born in Napoli, in Naples, but I moved to the United States when about three years old," he says.

He was raised in Wayne, Delaware County and first learned to cook from his family's matriarchs.

"I think there's something truly special about how every dish is made with your hands," he says. "The pasta is made with your hands, and it's very human. That's something that I've always loved and appreciated."

Vita means "life" in Italian.

"For holidays, everybody goes over to your Nonna's house, your grandmother's house, and it would be a feast," he says.

And now, he's serving one in HIS house.

On Vita's menu, you'll find Roman classics like the Bucatini all'Amatriciana. And we got the recipe!

"It's a classic tomato sauce with red pepper flakes and guanciale, which is pork jowl. The bucatini is one of my favorite pastas, too. It's a little bit messy," said Boni.

He says you can easily substitute the guanciale with pancetta, ham or prosciutto.

"This is just basic tomato sauce with San Marzano tomatoes and a pinch of red pepper flakes, depending on the spice level," he says.

Massimo adds a little bitt of the fat that gets rendered out when they cook the guanciale right into the sauce. You could use olive oil, any type of fat, butter or olive oil.

Once the bucatini is boiled and ready, add it to the pan.

Toss in some Pecorino Romano cheese, a little butter and some pasta water, to bind that sauce.

"The classic Roman dishes are classics for a reason, and I think nobody's trying to reinvent the wheel here," he says.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana Recipe from Vita

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 oz. thinly sliced guanciale, pancetta, chopped unsmoked bacon, ham or prosciutto
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups tomato sauce, preferably made with San Marzano tomatoes
- 12 oz. dried bucatini (or spaghetti)
- 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a pan on medium heat
2. Add the guanciale (or substitutes) and sauté, until golden on low heat
3. Add your tomato sauce, crushed red pepper flakes to desired spice level, and some salt and pepper
4. Stir occasionally, until Amatriciana sauce thickens
5. Once the pasta is ready, add the bucatini to the sauce pan
6. Save some pasta water and use that to thicken the sauce
7. Stir in Pecorino Romano cheese

Mangia!