This Simple Italian Pasta Is Al Pacino's Go-To

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Al Pacino's legacy could be viewed as Hollywood royalty. With roles under his belt such as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" films, Tony Montana in "Scarface," and Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in "Scent of a Woman," Pacino is an icon in the film industry. But his unassuming Italian roots run deep. Born in New York City to Sicilian immigrants and raised in a modest home by his mother and grandparents in The Bronx, he was likely brought up having plenty of pasta on the table. And even as an adult, when he's dining in an Italian restaurant, he has a hard time straying from a simple classic: spaghetti aglio e olio, or spaghetti with garlic and olive oil.

In his book "Positano The Amalfi Coast Cookbook: Travel Guide," author Daniel Bellino Zwicke recalled regularly serving Pacino at Barbetta Ristorante in New York City, where the actor would always order the pasta dish even though it wasn't on the menu. You could even say the dish is in his blood. Pacino is quoted as saying, "In America, most everybody who's Italian is half Italian. Except me. I'm all Italian. I'm mostly Sicilian, and I have a little bit of Neapolitan in me. You get your full dose with me" (via The Vintage News).

Spaghetti aglio e olio, in fact, hails from the region of Campania, where Naples is the capital. It's also a very affordable dish to make, requiring just three ingredients, so it would have been perfect for a poor Italian family like his to make regularly. And, although it originated in the southern part of Italy, it is popularly served all throughout the country, often with added ingredients.

Simple spaghetti aglio e olio couldn't be easier to prepare. Boil your spaghetti (it's Italy's most popular pasta shape) and toss it with olive oil that has been warmed and infused with chopped or sliced garlic. The oil coats every strand of pasta, giving each bite the essence of that wonderful flavor. Many recipes also call for adding red chili flakes to the oil, which further enhances it with warm spiciness. For color and a bit of freshness, you'll often see the dish tossed with chopped Italian parsley or grated parmesan cheese. The rich umami flavor of parmesan tastes wonderful with the garlicky oil. This pasta is great with grated lemon zest, which brightens up the whole dish, and it can be topped with toasted, flavored breadcrumbs, as well, for a satisfying crunch.

It's unclear, exactly, how the aforementioned Barbetta Ristorante prepared this pasta for Al Pacino, but it must have been an unforgettable dish for the actor to have asked for it time and time again. Now that Barbetta is closed, does Pacino get his aglio e olio elsewhere?

Bad Bunny's "Monaco" video gave us a clue. In it, Pacino makes an appearance as a guest dining at Carbone Restaurant in New York. The actor sits with a plate of pasta in front of him that resembles spaghetti aglio e olio, but Carbone's menu doesn't list this as an option (not that this has stopped Pacino before). However, there is a dish called angel hair AOP, which seems to feature angel hair pasta tossed with aglio, olio, and peperoncino, based on how it looks. Sounds like something fit for a Hollywood legend!