As a young culinary student, Adam Berger traveled to Montelupo Albese, within the Piedmont region of Italy, to learn pasta-making from the experts. He brought that education back to Portland, rolling dough at the legendary Italian tasting menu spot, Genoa, and at his own restaurants: the beloved (and now closed) Tabla Pasta E Vino in Kerns, and Montelupo, a traditional-leaning Italian restaurant named for the city where he learned his craft.

Despite his adoration of Piedmontese cooking, however, Berger and his team’s newest venture is a testament to his first love: the marinara-drenched spaghetti and meatballs, thick slabs of chicken parmesan, and Caesar salads of the New Jersey trattorias he frequented as a kid.