Pasta Project in Farmingdale is taking an Italian tradition and giving it a mass-market, quick-serve, maximalist American twist. Pasta alla ruota — pasta tossed in a hollowed-out wheel of cheese — became popular in Italy 30 or 40 years ago before crossing the Atlantic and becoming a tableside spectacle in America. Here on Long Island you can find it at Osteria Umbra in Smithtown ($45) and One10 in Melville ($38), among other fine-dining restaurants.

But Pasta Project is within a pizzeria (Gino’s of Farmingdale), the dish takes five minutes to make and costs $15. How do they do it so fast? By making fresh spaghetti and mezze rigatoni that require only four minutes to cook, and preparing the dish right in front of you. Whether you eat in or take out, it’s served in a paper bowl.

Gino’s, a classic LI pizzeria, was opened a year ago by Alex Tulley, Michael Grimaudo and brothers Joe and Mike Licata. (They also operate Gino’s pizzerias in Northport, Nesconset, Kings Park and Commack.) Last year, Joe and Mike were vacationing in Sicily and came across a shop making fresh pasta and tossing it in a cheese wheel. "They were making it right in the window," Joe recalled, "so everybody could see."

The brothers were enchanted by the concept and, in short order, they bought a Sirman pasta-making machine and carved out a small corner of the pizzeria for it, along with a four-basket pasta cooker and a Chipotle-style toppings display. Pasta Project opened in May.

Traditionally, cheese-wheel pasta (to coin a phrase) is a variation on cacio e pepe where the only ingredients besides pasta are cheese, scraped up from the wheel, and black pepper. (Osteria Umbra adds truffles.) In Farmingdale, the freshly cooked pasta is transferred to a wheel of Grana (a cousin to Parmigiano Reggiano) and topped with some cream-based Alfredo sauce before it is tossed with tongs that also scrape up and incorporate some cheese.

You could stop there but the Pasta Project drill involves an additional sauce — tomato, cacio e pepe, Bolognese, pesto or Sunday (with sausage and meatballs) and additional toppings, such as burrata, broccoli, sautéed eggplant, sun-dried peppers, meatballs or grilled chicken. The possibilities are virtually limitless but most customers avail themselves of one of four signature combos: Alla Norma (tomato sauce, eggplant, ricotta, basil), Holy Sunday (Sunday sauce, burrata, basil), Truffle Mushroom (cacio e pepe sauce, sherry-wine mushrooms, truffle oil), Pesto Siciliano (pesto, sun-dried peppers, baby mozzarella).

Joe said that the response from customers has been "phenomenal" and the partners are now looking for more locations. Future Pasta Projects will be freestanding, he said. "Compared to a pizzeria, this concept needs much less space, has less overhead and needs less labor."

Pasta Project also serves gelato, sorbetto, bomboloni (Italian doughnuts) and tiramisu.

Pasta Project, 331 Main St., Farmingdale, 516-550-7506, thepastaprojectonline.com. Open Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight.