Lots of people like fresh pasta, but very few go to the lengths Michael Lombardi does to make it. In the basement of his South End restaurant SRV, Lombardi (Questrom’08) and co-owner Kevin O’Donnell have installed a mill to grind the grain needed to make the freshest pasta, whether it’s tubes of garganelli, buckwheat pizzoccheri, or piles of the elbow-shaped noodle known as lumache.

It’s no small endeavor in a restaurant that can serve more than 500 people on a busy night. “From a production standpoint, from where it lies in our heart, pasta holds the most square footage in the restaurant and on the menu,” Lombardi says. “It’s always been a passion of mine.”