The Mister Behind Mr. Maurice’s Italian

If one happened to be in Japan when the craving for a Caesar salad set in, one would be wise to make haste for Mr. Maurice’s Italian — the neighborhood Italian restaurant and bar at Ace Hotel Kyoto, run in partnership with the inimitable Philly chef Marc Vetri. Named after Chef Marc’s mother’s family restaurant Maurice’s (which the family lived above), Mr. Maurice’s is our haven of wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, hearty entrees and indulgent desserts.

When he’s in town, which he was recently, Marc’s order at Mr. Maurice’s includes a margherita pizza and rigatoni with sausage ragu. Nice. He’ll also clear his schedule for ramen at Men-ya Takakura Nijo — “the broth is so rich and creamy,” he says — and Chef Yoshihiro Imai’s Badu. “I love how they go to the farm every morning and pick the vegetables and then supplement with stuff from the farmers market in Ohara,” Marc says of Badu.

Marc was with us at Ace Kyoto to help prep the kitchen to serve one-off specials fresh from his latest cookbook, The Pasta Book: Recipes, Techniques, Inspiration. If you can’t make it to Kyoto in time to try them, we’re sharing an easy, pantry-friendly pasta from Marc’s new noodle bible, perfect for pulling something cozy together for a crowd over the holidays.

Pici Pomodoro

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
4 to 6 anchovy fillets (optional)
1 (28-ounce) can peeled whole Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, with their juice
Kosher salt
1 pound fresh Pici or other long, thin noodle
12 to 15 fresh basil leaves, torn if large
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish (optional)

Make the sauce: In a deep 12-inch sauté pan, heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and anchovies (if using) and cook until aromatic but not browned, about 2 minutes, swirling the pan a few times. Using your hands, pinch and pull out the hard tomato cores, then crush the tomatoes into small pieces, letting the pieces drop into the pan. Add the tomato juice from the can to the pan. Increase the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer, then adjust the heat to maintain a simmer and cook the sauce gently until it thickens slightly, about 20 minutes. Taste the sauce and season with salt until it tastes good to you.

Meanwhile, cook the pici: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt until it tastes like well-seasoned broth. Drop in the pici, give it a stir, and cover the pot to quickly return the water to a boil. Uncover or partially cover to maintain the boil and boil the pasta, stirring occasionally, until it is tender but still a little chewy when bitten.

When the pasta is ready, use tongs to scoop it from the water and transfer it straight to the pan of sauce. Add 1 cup of the hot pasta water or saved pasta water (see page 31) and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Crank the heat to medium-high and shake and swirl the pan until the sauce reduces a bit more and begins to hug the pasta, 1 to 2 minutes (keep the pasta moving, adding a little more pasta water if necessary to create a lightly thickened sauce). Remove from the heat, add the basil, and toss until the pasta and sauce marry, leaving little to no sauce in the pan. Remove the garlic before serving. Using tongs or a pasta fork, dish out the pasta onto warmed plates, creating some volume by twirling it into a mound. Garnish with Parmesan if you like.

Reprinted with permission from The Pasta Book by Marc Vetri copyright © 2025. Photographs copyright © 2025 Ed Anderson. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

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