Pasta-making comes naturally to Melissa Muller Daka. Though her expertise is on display at Eolo, her two-year-old restaurant in Chelsea, it’s at Pastai, her compact new restaurant nearby, that the pasta takes over. Pastai also has a retail counter where fresh pasta is about $3.50 for three ounces.

Oh. $18.67 a pound for flour, water, and salt. Okay.

You know, I'm kind of on a budget. I'll have the foie gras instead.