Until very recently, the Nickelodeon-green, almost teal pesto was a total mystery to me, a recipe I tried to replicate for years to no avail. But it’s the key to this dish, the most striking feature of an otherwise ordinary seafood pasta. But the pesto at Da Andrea is always shiny velvet, a shade of green that feels as if you’ve blended neon Chicago-dog relish into cream. Without the nuts, the pesto was pure basil, its floral aroma buoyed by an unbreakable emulsion of liquid and fat. If the pesto is the galaxy of this pasta, then the perfectly cooked seafood pieces are its brightest stars.

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Persons: Da Andrea, Meliano Plasencia, Plasencia, I’ve, “ Organizations: Nickelodeon Locations: Da