I Found ‘The Holy Grail of Pasta’ in Watertown Yesterday
You want to see something crazy? Search Ronzoni Pastina on Ebay. Boxes of this are going for $5 - $25 a box with 'DISCONTINUED' blaring at you from every post. I got a box for $2.59 yesterday, in Watertown, from a place that's been treating customers with respect for over six generations.
Ever since Ronzoni announced that they were discontinuing their cut of the cutest little pasta in the whole wide world, I've been lurking down every pasta aisle in the state of Connecticut. Through January into February I've looked in supermarkets, dollar stores, mini-marts, and I got the same result - no Ronzoni Pastina - no.155, anywhere.
Until yesterday, I didn't find just one box, I found dozens. Yep, it was at the LaBonne's in Watertown. I wasn't even looking for it, honestly I gave up. But Mrs. Large wanted the store-made stuffed turkey breast, and there it was. I looked around like I was Red finding Andy's note under the rock, but it was 1PM on a Tuesday, I was the youngest customer by at least two decades.
I resisted the urge to fill the cart, because honestly I bought boxes of Barilla and San Giorgio pastina in the past month, and they're just as good. I had to get one box though, and I had to talk about my good luck with the cashier and bagger. They both told me that they've noticed that there have been a couple of shoppers loading up, but they still had quite a few.
Good luck if you're still hunting. Oh, and the stuffed turkey was amazing as usual, thank you LaBonne's.