It’s one of the most popular of pasta puns:
“Did you hear about the Italian chef? he pasta way.”
“Pasta way” was cited in a 1967 newspaper. “Did you hear about the italian chef...he pasta way!” was cited in 1996.
Google News Archive
23 August 1967, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Pipeline Could Be Broken” by Buck Herzog, pt. 1, pg. 11, col. 1:
Reading that opera composer Giacomo Puccini’s long time chef died, Sentinel Copy Editor Dorothy Holm was wondering if she “pasta way.”
Google Groups: rec.arts.dance
c&w Southern National Jokes
Nord...@aol.com
10/12/96
(...)
Did you hear about the italian chef......
...... he pasta way!
Google Groups: za.humour
Italian chef
Ernest Bessinger
10/27/99
Did you hear what happened to the Italian chef ?
He pasta-way!
11 December 2001, The Times of India (New Delhi), pg. 11, col. 3:
INTERNET HUMOUR
Q: Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?
A: It’s so sad...he pasta way.
Twitter
Squiffy The Clown
@Squiffy2
#humor #comedy Did you hear about the Italian Chef that died?
He pasta way.
8:41 AM - 19 Nov 2009
Twitter
kissmykas
@kasprd
did you hear about the Italian chef?? he PASTA way!!
2:57 AM - 4 Feb 2010
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Really Silly Jokes:
Humour for the Whole Family
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson Ltd
2011
Pg. ?:
Did you hear about the Italian chef who died?
He pasta way last week
Google Books
More One Liners, Jokes and Gags
By Grant Tucker
London: The Robson Press
2013
Pg. ?:
Did you hear about the Italian chef that died? He pasta way. We cannoli do so much. His legacy will become a pizza history.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.