The Migratory Noodle (Migrantis pappardellicum)

Hover/click for details. (Photographs by Bruce Peterson. Food Styling by Rowena Day/Ennis.)

Untethered in recent years from the conventions of Italian cookery, the modern pasta dish has become a culinary wanderer of sorts, as likely to be spotted at a Central European sausage tavern or a French-inflected North End pop-up (see: Bronwyn, Whisk) as at its traditional trattoria habitat. That’s not to say that all enlightened species have succumbed to the migratory pull. A newer generation of Italian eateries is offering hand-rolled and extruded masterpieces that thread the needle of tradition and innovation: inspired spots like Sportello and Coppa, for example, as well as No. 9 Park, which this spring included a weekly six-course pasta tasting on its bar menu. Among the newest members of the club: Cambridge’s Giulia and Ribelle, in Washington Square.

Blutnudeln from Bronwyn (Pictured Above)

Chef Tim Wiechmann’s blutnudeln may be a take on a traditional northern Italian preparation, but it also embodies the modern pasta dish in two ways: It incorporates an unusual addition to the dough, and it’s lightly sauced, letting the noodles function as the uniting factor for a host of bold-flavored, texture-rich components.

The Kirkland Tap & Trotter

Spaghetti, brown butter–chicken liver sauce, pumpkin.

Sycamore

Red-wine-braised beef agnolotti with carrots, maitake mushrooms, parsley.

Whisk

Squid-ink pappardelle, brown-butter panko crumbs, miso–black garlic butter, braised calamari, slow-cooked tomatoes.

Giulia

Farro casarecce, kale, whey-braised rabbit, chanterelles, roasted kuri squash.

Ribelle

Tagliolini, braised duck, roasted and raw matsutake mushrooms, cocoa nibs, watermelon radish, radish greens.

Steel & Rye

Gemelli, confit chicken, pancetta, arugula, sundried tomato, mascarpone, oyster mushrooms, grana Padano cheese.