The Pasta Meal So Tasty Alex Guarnaschelli Said It Made Her 'Tear Up' With Excitement

Alex Guarnaschelli has judged more plates than most people have tasted, but even a seasoned palate can be left stunned when something is just that good. We've seen the Food Network star in many different elements, from high-octane to smiling and laughing, to angry at herself for a misstep on "Chopped: Legends." Rarely have we seen her brought to tears, but she shared with the world a culinary moment that had a real effect on her. According to Guarnaschelli, a bowl of pasta served at La Merenda, a rustic, no-frills eatery in Nice, France, made her tear up. "La Merenda has stools and communal tables, no phone, no reservations, and doesn't accept credit cards," Guarnaschelli told Business Insider, highlighting just how stripped-down the dining experience was. "It is truly about hospitality and great flavors," she added.

Everything came full circle when the restaurant staff dropped the freshly cooked pasta onto hot pesto right at her table. "It was an ethereal meal that changed my life. Especially the pasta," Guarnaschelli said. "The pasta being dropped on the hot pesto in front of me made me tear up. It was that good. And so simple." That simplicity — fresh noodles and velvety pesto consisting of fragrant basil, olive oil, garlic, butter, and Emmental cheese — created a moment so powerful it bypassed critique and landed straight in her memory. For Alex, this was more than just another dish at a good restaurant; it was a reminder of why chefs cook and eat.

Alex Guarnaschelli's reaction may seem extreme unless you've had a similarly humbling food moment where you encountered a dish so layered in simplicity and soul that it transcends language and hits your core. In fine dining, there's a tendency to expect the elaborate, but the best meals often remind us of something more fundamental ...  food that doesn't hide behind technique, but rather highlights the integrity of each ingredient.

La Merenda's no-phone, no-reservation setup strips away distractions. There's no hype machine, no influencers filming every forkful, no mukbangs where you can hear the slurp a mile away — just a cook making honest food. When Guarnaschelli said it was "an ethereal meal that changed my life," she wasn't exaggerating. Dishes like that reframe a chef's philosophy and may reconnect them to why they started cooking in the first place. It's a powerful statement that food doesn't always need elevation to be otherworldly; it needs intention, care, and reverence for the ingredients. 

The pasta she praised wasn't breaking boundaries or anything, and it even had similar undertones to Rick Steves' favorite meal, which came from a simple European farm. But it clearly did a number on one of the industry's finest. And hey, impressing a chef like Guarnaschelli has got to count for something, right?