Signature Dish

Staff photo by Bill Green Claudia Tempo and her son Joseph Tempo want to make people rethink how to eat Italian food. They are the founders, co-owners and chefs at Tempo di Pasta, which opened in December last year.

Tempo Di Pasta wants to make gourmet Italian good casual again

Claudia Tempo and her son Joseph Tempo want to make people rethink how to eat Italian food. They are the founders, co-owners and chefs at Tempo Di Pasta, which opened in December last year. They started out as a food truck in 2013. Claudia is from the northern region of Italy called Piedmont, and the restaurant name honors her family and its cooking. Their venue is intimate. It’s different from the fancy ambience that usually surrounds gourmet Italian restaurants. But that’s what the Tempos want. They want to show that Italian food can be quick, easy and still delicious. You don’t need to go to a fancy restaurant to get good Italian food. Everything is homemade, including their pasta. They make about 50 pounds of pasta every other day in different shapes, colors and sizes. Their menu aims to represent Italian food from all over Italy. They have a Northern Italian lasagna and also Southern Italian seafood pasta. They want people to feel like they are eating at nonna’s house — grandma’s house. That’s why they also get DOP Italian products, which stands for Protected Designation of Origin in English. It certifies that the product is regionally produced in Italy. — Clara Niel

TEMPO DI PASTA

Address: 244 E. Church St., Frederick Website: tempodipasta.com Instagram: @tempodipasta Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday Price: $11 to $22 What the owners recommend: The bucatini neri are handmade with squid ink and then tossed in a homemade tomato sauce with shrimp, octopus and calamari. There’s also calabrian peperoncino to add a little kick to the dish. Joseph tops it off with grated bottarga — dried mediterranean fish eggs — and the dish is off to the table.