In Your Space: Ohio City Pasta maker keeps
it fresh
A fine layer of flour covers pretty much every surface in
Gary Thomas' pasta-making shop, Ohio City Pasta. The
insidious white powder clings to walls, equipment, paperwork
and, yes, even Thomas.
When Thomas, a culinary-school graduate and chef, started
his company 17 years ago, he had about two dozen local
restaurant accounts. Today, his fresh egg pasta is on the
menus of hundreds of restaurants, some as far away as
Virginia, Minneapolis and Louisville. Home cooks can
purchase Ohio City Pasta from a retail stand at the West
Side Market.
But despite the company's impressive reach, operations
remain surprisingly small. Every day, about 1,000 pounds of
egg pasta is made by 12 employees in just 2,400 square feet
of production space. Batches of spaghetti, fettuccini and
linguini are mixed, rolled and cut on antique Italian
equipment, much of it purchased from out-of-business
competitors.
"We can remain small because most of what we make each
night is shipped out the next morning," Thomas explains.
"Our fresh pasta is literally made to order. If we're making
it, it's already sold."
In a small adjoining kitchen, fillings for ravioli are
blended in a massive industrial mixer.
"We're not trying to take over the world," adds Thomas.
"We're just trying to take care of the chefs who appreciate
quality."
Trattner is a free-lance writer in Cleveland Heights.
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