Derek Simcik’s Cavatelli Sardi Is a F*&@k You to Vodka Sauce

When Derek Simcik was R & Ding dishes for Saint Bibiana in Savannah, Ga., certain interested parties—who shall not be outed here—kept pressuring the chef to include a spicy vodka sauce on his southern coastal Italian menu. “I don’t understand it,” says Simcik. “It’s an Italian-American dish, invented in the ‘80s in Jersey. No Italian uses vodka to cook with.” 

As a compromise, Simcik tried to sell...