Nicolas Cage Still Considers This 'Square Tube Pasta' His Favorite After Trying It 25 Years Ago
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You probably won't find Nicolas Cage's favorite pasta shape in your local grocery store.
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything to promote his new movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage, 58, was asked what his favorite pasta shape is by one user.
"I once went to an Italian restaurant in San Francisco about 25 years ago with Charlie Sheen because they had square tube pasta and he was very interested in trying square tube pasta and we did and we loved it so much we went back the next day to try it again," Cage replied.
Cage didn't include the eatery's name, and "square tube pasta" isn't exactly a common type of pasta, so the cryptic response sparked an internet investigation of sorts across Twitter and the online food world.
Eater SF launched a search, enlisting San Francisco locals to help find the name of the restaurant — and in turn the pasta — that Cage visited over two decades ago. After sifting through responses from local food columnists, San Francisco natives and Twitter users, the outlet posted a query in a San Francisco Remembered Facebook group. A group member responded: "Cafe Tiramisu. You're welcome. I actually saw him there twice."
Co-owners of the Italian restaurant, Pino Spinoso and Giuseppe Scoppetto, finally solved the mystery of what "square tube pasta" Cage was referring to. After describing a ravioli menu item they serve, Spinoso revised his answer.
"The other one was called paccheri," Spinoso told Eater SF. "It was a pasta [dish] with an oxtail ragu. They are the size of a half candle, and then when you cook it, they get flat a little bit. Almost like a rigatoni, but wider, larger."
The owners also confirmed that the actor visited Cafe Tiramisu with Charlie Sheen.
This month, Cage spoke with PEOPLE about his latest ventures, and said he feels he's putting out some of his "best work."
In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which releases Friday, Cage plays a version of himself. He shared some advice he'd tell his younger self starting out in the movie industry.
"I would say it's gonna be alright," he said. "I would say that your dreams — the real Nicky, the Nicky that watched Midnight Cowboy for the first time on a funky old television in Louise Vogelsang, my grandmother's house and had his heartstrings pulled and his heart torn out — I would say that we're going to make some movies down the road that you're going to have that feeling again."
Cage also spoke to PEOPLE about putting his family first when it comes to career opportunities. Cage and his wife Riko Shibata are expecting a baby this year, and he is also dad to sons Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16, from previous relationships.
"First and foremost ... there's no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn't want to spend time with his children," he said. "There's no version of Nic Cage that didn't put family first over career. I turned down Lord of the Rings and I turned down Matrix because I didn't want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that's a fact."
