Hi! I'm Allison, founder of Pasta Friday and Pasta Louise. Pasta has literally changed my life, three times over. Here's the long story: 

In 2011, I sunk every last penny I had into following my dream: opening a restaurant. I co-founded Homeroom in Oakland, CA, and for almost seven years, this mac and cheese restaurant was my life. Since the day it opened, every single night the crowd would spill down the block, people waiting over two hours for a bowl of mac and cheese and a slice of peanut butter pie. I helped grow the business to two locations and about 90 employees. We were featured on The Food Network, The Cooking Channel, The Travel Channel, The History Channel, QVC, Chow.com, the Wall Street Journal, you name it, we've been on it. I’m also the co-author of the best-selling Mac and Cheese cookbook. The success Homeroom has seen is so rare, that restaurant moguls far and wide wondered how we did it.

And then I sold it. I sold the business that I literally built from the ground up. My dream was always to open a restaurant. Turns out, it was never to run a big business.

Homeroom grew big, and it grew fast. My workdays, instead of greeting customers and developing recipes, were suddenly packed with strategic growth meetings and hours and hours of deep dives into wage-band analysis charts. 

I was miserable. Stressed. I turned into an insomniac. My dream was killing me. 

I surrounded myself with family and friends as much as possible, because those were the only times I wasn't wallowing in self-doubt. And to make sure they all stuck around, I cooked for them. I started an event called Pasta Friday where every week I'd cook a giant pot of pasta and a big salad, and invite all my friends over for dinner.

Pasta Friday changed my life. And it became a feast! Every Friday my two young boys wake up yelling, "It's Pasta Friday, it's Pasta Friday!" I have 90 people on my email list, and every week I cook for around 30 adults and 15 kids. Guests bring a bottle of wine, and we laugh and drink and eat and forget about the chaos of everyday life. It's casual – you'll catch people stealing small pieces of my homemade cheese off the counter, kids running around with red popsicles before eating their dinner. But most of all, you'll find people connecting. Unwinding after a long week, and thankful they don't have to cook dinner. New bonds, new support systems, a new way to share meals – new for this generation, at least. 

And now? I’m living in Brooklyn with Alejandro and our two sons, and I’m about to open a new restaurant! A small pasta shop that I can walk to in the mornings after bringing my boys to school. It’s going to be in Park Slope… and it’ll be fantastic! Stay tuned for more details.

Contact me at allison@pastalouise.com!