Gocciolina's cacio e pepe is the dish that gets written about most frequently in early reviews of the restaurant: a pasta that in lesser hands becomes gluey or greasy, executed here with the correct emulsification of sheep's-milk pecorino, butter and pasta water. The pasta is made in-house daily. That a restaurant in Durham is producing the best cacio e pepe many Triangle diners have eaten would have been a strange claim a decade ago; Gocciolina makes it unremarkable.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Indy Week's Best Italian 2024 and consistently booked weeks ahead, Gocciolina operates a short handmade pasta menu in a natural-wine room that seats under 30.
Book2+ weeks ahead
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