In 1976, a small shop opened up on New York's Upper East Side... 

{HISTORY}

Located on Third Avenue between 78th and 79th Streets, Pasta & Cheese quickly became the belle of the Upper East Side when it first opened in New York City in 1976. Serving gourmet to-go foods, fresh homemade pasta, imported delicacies, and artisanal cheeses, Pasta & Cheese was the passion project of realtor Henry A. Lambert, who when not developing commercial properties around the city, spent his time in pursuit of the perfect homemade pasta. 

Henry found his bliss in the fresh pasta shops in Italian neighborhoods downtown but when he realized there were no similar equivalents uptown, his passion turned entrepreneurial and he opened upper Manhattan's first fresh pasta shop.

Nine years later, when this cookbook debuted in 1985, Pasta & Cheese had expanded to include eight locations, six restaurants, and a line of sauces carried in supermarkets in 35 states nationwide. 

In 1985, Henry published Pasta & Cheese: The Cookbook, sharing an array of recipes that have inspired not only his lifetime love of cooking but also his everpresent culinary curiosity. Some of the recipes included here were developed for menus at Pasta and Cheese and others were creatively constructed based on fare that Henry himself found deeply satisfying. Many, of course, center around pasta and/or cheese, but there are also recipes for a variety of salads, vegetables, barbeque, sandwiches, soups, seafood and stews.  

Interesting recipes include Steak with Shallot Sauce, Pasta with Gorgonzola, Smoked Salmon Souffle, Canneloni, The Pasta & Cheese Sandwich,  Lemon Meringue Tart, Curried Tuna Salad, Carolina Coleslaw, Curried Chutney Mayonnaise, Yams, Peach & Calvados Casserole, Potage St-Germain, Sauteed Chicken Breasts in Brandied Cream Sauce, Mushroom Ravioli with Tomato Sauce

Despite the rapid expansion of Pasta & Cheese, there's not much info about the gourmet shop following its successes in the 1980s. At one point, Carnation Inc. bought the production facilities. Then Henry bought them back and renamed part (or all) of it  August and Company, Was that the end of Pasta and Cheese in NYC? We are not quite sure yet. 

What's especially interesting about Pasta & Cheese, beyond the fact that it went from being a small, simple, neighborhood-style brick-and-mortar store to a well-loved urban shopping and dining experience,  was that it was at the forefront of ushering in a new type of trendy gourmet specialty shop in NYC. Similar to Dean and Deluca, it provided convenience, inspiration and a culinary take-out menu that included ingredients also sold in the store. 

A fun bit of New York City nostalgia and food history, this cookbook is full of interesting comfort foods and gourmet picnic-worthy fare all made with simple ingredients easily found at the grocery or farmers market.

Photo of Henry Lambert courtesy of Newsday, 1985.

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• Published in 1985, First Printing
• 223 pages
• Illustrated throughout with line drawings by Barbara Fiore and David Larkin

{CONDITION}

In lovely vintage condition. This cookbook is very clean and bright throughout with no cooking spots, stains or notations. The original dust jacket has been reinforced on the inside with archival paper along the top edge. The spine is tight and all pages are intact.

{SIZE}

Measures 10.25" inches (length) x 7.25" inches (width) x 1" inch (thickness) and weighs 1.10 lbs.