Little Noodle Pops Up With Happy Hour Pasta Bowls

Jason Chichonski is giving Philly a taste of his fresh pasta concept at Ela happy hour, Tuesdays through Thursdays this winter.


Photo courtesy of Little Noodle Pasta Co.

Jason Chichonski, chef and owner of Ela, has been playing with a fresh pasta concept called Little Noodle Pasta Co. for a while now.

He offers bulk orders of standard semolina pasta in rigatoni tubes and gemelli twists, plays inventive seasonal flavors like mulled wine and toasted rye, for pickup at the Queen Village restaurant. You can buy bags of Little Noodle’s pastas to cook at home at Riverwards Produce, and they’ve popped up at spots like Hungry Pigeon, too.

While there’s currently a fast-casual Little Noodle counter in a gourmet shop called Mondo Market in Denver, a Philly location is still in the works. So Chichonski has decided to give his hometown a sneak preview of what’s to come. He’s eager to keep experimenting and get feedback from customers before the standalone pasta spot opens.

All winter long, Ela will offer $5 bowls of Little Noodle pastas at the bar, Tuesdays through Thursdays during happy hour (that’s 5 p.m. top 7 p.m.).

Chichonski will start with bowls including spaghetti with chicken meatballs and old-school red sauce, cold buckwheat noodles with roasted hamachi collar, sesame, kimchi and Meyer lemon ponzu, gemelli with beef Bolognese and goat cheese, and chestnut ditalini with beef Bourguignon.

The spaghetti and meatballs will probably stay on the menu, he says, while other options will change as he experiments.