Pasta schmo to pasta pro

Alto

As befits a restaurant with top-shelf pasta plates, Alto has an entire room devoted to pasta-making magic. After a quick chat in the elegant dining room, Michael led me to his subterranean pasta chamber where we came upon his longtime pasta chef Berta (pictured, in cap) rolling dough. White calls her "the finest pasta maker in New York City. She's 10 times better than I am. She's like a high-stakes sushi chef: Once you get one, you don't let them go."