MBBP

It’s Italian-Kansan fusion… for breakfast

I have two words for you: breakfast pasta.

No, make that four: maple bacon breakfast pasta.

Those were the words that got my attention when I sat down at FioRito Ristorante in Wichita, Kansas, last January, windburned and hungry after a bitterly cold run along the Arkansas River.

The brunch menu at FioRito includes a whole section of breakfast pastas. It’s one of the ways chef and co-owner Jordan Rickard is adapting Italian traditions for a Kansas audience. “If you look at actual Italian food, in Italy, it’s hyper-seasonal and hyper-regional,” he says. “There’s a core to the cuisine that you need to maintain, absolutely, but if you’re doing Italian food in the United States, you should be pulling from local sources—meats, fruits, vegetables—and finding local inspiration.”

There isn’t much of a breakfast pasta tradition in Italy, Rickard says. He and his brother and co-owner, Jason, decided that the most authentic way to develop pastas for a heartland brunch crowd was to incorporate flavors from local favorites like chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy, and pancakes with bacon.

This cinnamon roll focaccia was also so much better than it needed to be.

I ordered the maple bacon pasta out of curiosity. It turned out to be one of my favorite plates of 2025. The concept is over the top, but the pasta was surprisingly balanced—enough that I ended up sopping my leftover sauce with a piece of the restaurant’s cinnamon roll focaccia. This isn’t state-fair food. (The noodles, bacon, and focaccia are all made in-house.)

Like all the best innovations, it draws on what already works. What you have here is a balanced breakfast, American-style: sweet and salty, heavy on carbs, and rich with runny egg yolk and cheese. And while it might raise eyebrows in Italy, it isn’t that far removed from European tradition. Rickard, who worked at the Michelin-starred Colorado Italian restaurant Frasca Food and Wine, says that aspects of the dish are riffing on carbonara and cacio e pepe, and it shows. “I think people here like it so much because the flavors are familiar, but it still eats like an Italian pasta,” he says.

Since my last visit, Rickard and his team have started topping it with fried chicken and hot sauce. “Customers kept asking if they could add protein, and more often than not, it was fried chicken,” Rickard says. “At some point, we looked at it and said, ‘This looks great—maybe this should just be the dish.’” Sure. After all, what’s fried chicken but Kansas Milanese?

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MAPLE BACON BREAKFAST PASTA
Adapted from Jordan Rickard, FioRito Ristorante, Wichita, Kansas

Makes 2 servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes

Mafaldine is a long, ribbon-shaped noodle with ruffled edges that hold sauce well. If you can’t find it and don’t want to buy it online, you can go two different directions with a substitution: Use a long pasta like bucatini, which Rickard recommends, or a short, ruffled shape like campanelle, which also worked well for me.

Ingredients
2 oz. (57 g) smoked bacon (2-3 slices, depending on thickness), cut into ¼-inch lardons
1 small shallot (about 30 g), minced (in a pinch, you can substitute half a small yellow onion)
1 clove garlic (5 g), minced
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (60 ml) dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
½ cup (120 ml) homemade or low-sodium chicken stock
2 tbsp. (30 ml) maple syrup
1 tbsp. (15 ml) rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp. (57 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into roughly tablespoon-sized chunks
6 oz. (170 g) mafaldine pasta (see headnote for other options)
¾ cup (about 60 g) finely grated parmesan, divided
Kosher salt, to taste
1 tbsp. neutral oil, such as canola
2 large eggs (50 g each)
¼ cup (30 g) pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
¼ cup (10 g) finely chopped chives, from one ½-oz package

Preparation
Add bacon to a large skillet over medium heat and cook until fat has rendered and bacon is beginning to crisp at the edges, 3–5 minutes. Add shallot and cook, stirring often, until shallot is softened and beginning to brown, another 3–5 minutes. Add garlic and black pepper and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds.

Pour in the white wine and increase the heat to medium high. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and let the wine reduce until the pan is almost dry, 2–3 minutes.

Add chicken stock, maple syrup, vinegar, and butter and return to a simmer, stirring aggressively to help the butter emulsify into the sauce, thickening it. Continue simmering and stirring until the sauce is thickened and glossy, about 5 minutes.

While the sauce simmers, bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente (usually a minute or two less than the package instructions). Reserve half a cup of cooking water and drain.

Transfer the hot pasta directly into the sauce skillet. Add a splash of the reserved pasta water and ½ cup of the parmesan. Toss vigorously for 3–4 minutes over medium heat. The starch and cheese will bind with the maple-butter sauce to create a creamy sauce. Taste and add salt if needed. Remove from heat.

Quickly cook the eggs: Add oil to a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once it’s shimmering, add the eggs, taking care to keep them separated. Season with salt and pepper and cook until whites are just barely set, about 2 minutes. Cover the skillet and cook until the yolks are softly set but still runny, about 1 minute.

Divide the pasta between two bowls. Top each portion with half the toasted pecans, half the remaining ¼ cup parmesan, half the chives, and an egg.