The name Barilla is synonymous with pasta and Italian cuisine, but you might be unaware that the historic pastamaker has recently opened three fast casual restaurants in New York City, with a fourth slated to open in July 2017.

The restaurants, located around Herald Square, Bryant Park, Radio City Music Hall and the Financial District (July) offer a wide variety of traditional and authentic Italian cuisine. The menu spans everything from salads and soups to pizza and pasta, with delicious desserts and Lavazza coffee.

Barilla Restaurants introduced the 7 Days a Week Menu this year, which was developed by its Food & Nutrition Research Center in Italy. The menu provides customers with quality dishes made from the same authentic recipes that Italians cook with every day. The result is food that is both good for you and good for the planet.

The menu provides the guidelines on how to maintain a healthy but hearty diet through an enlightened balance of freshly made, quality meals. The menu is based on a restructured food pyramid that emphasizes fruit, vegetables, whole grain pasta and bread, fish, and olive oil, while limiting eggs, dairy, meat and sweets.

The Barilla philosophy is essentially very simple, there is no need to diet or cut out certain foods as long as you eat smart and stay informed about the ingredients in your food.