Salvatore La Rosa, who initially found success with selling sandwiches via a circa 1970s moped, is settling down. La Rosa says he’s signed a lease for Salvo’s at 66-01 Forest Avenue, near Gates Avenue, in a former Ridgewood shoe repair shop.
Salvo’s began selling Italian lunch by way of Instagram in 2023. Some of his earliest offerings included a mortadella sandwich with fried zucchini, dressed with olive oil, lemon, basil, and dill, and prosciutto with pistachio spread. A former graphic designer and punk band member by night, he decided to leave the computer screen behind to use his hands. Working part-time as a courier, he got the idea to also deliver food.
It would work like so: Announcements for the rotating specials went up via fliers, with pre-orders taken via DM, requesting a drop-off time frame, and La Rosa would deliver it, provided it was within his radius. More recently, he upgraded his wheels to a blue mini truck, called GO-4 Interceptor, the kind that would’ve once been used for parking ticket enforcement.
Salvatore La Rosa and his GO-4.
Salvo’s
The new Salvo’s spot will allow him to expand his offerings with a day-to-night set-up. “I want it to feel like a modest spot in Italy, like a trattoria that’s really comfortable — my favorite kind of places, where you can hear the clanking of silverware and people talking loudly to each other.”
The forthcoming Salvo’s space can hold about 20 seats. The idea is to keep “operation kind of controlled, a lunch spot, with evening service and aperitivo and small plates,” he says (he’ll pursue a liquor license). “I want it to feel like a modest spot in Italy, like a trattoria that’s really comfortable — my favorite kind of places, where you can hear the clanking of silverware…” (It’s a similar format to another Italian American counter-service spot on the way to Ridgewood this season called Arrigo’s.)
“It’s pretty wild to me because this entire thing happened accidentally, I’m so grateful that it got to this point where I actually need to expand. I’ve reached this threshold of what I can do in my apartment,” he says. “I’m only capable of making so many myself so the hope is with the new space, people who haven’t gotten to try the food — either because it sold out or they couldn’t get to it — will get to, and the people who have tried the food will be able to have it two, three times a week if they want,” he says.
Though sandwiches are his so-called bread and better, since his early days, he’s used the platform for a wider menu of simple-but-tasty Italian cooking: from tomato salad and oyster mushroom frittata to lasagna Bolognese and handmade pasta. He also sells house-made tomato sauce. He estimates that he has made thousands of sandwiches so far.
After looking at several spaces, he decided on this Forest Avenue storefront in Ridgewood (right across from red-sauce institution Joe’s), where he’s lived for years. The earliest he’s looking at opening Salvo’s is this August. In the meantime, he’s hosting Saturday pop-ups — weather permitting — nearby at Grover Cleveland Park with panini and pantry items. from 1 p.m. until sold out.
Wheels were part of his signature, and he’s considering how to use them going forward. La Rosa says: “Maybe a farmer’s market stand or something like that.”
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