Press enter or click to view image in full sizeOriginal Joe’s Westlake striking midcentury exterior and porte-cochere (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller)
Moving from Southern California to New Jersey at age 14, New York first revealed to me what a true city is. When in that NY state of mind, I miss its boundless (if exhausting) energy, and, yes, its’ East Coast-style American Italian food. Both in the city and Jersey suburbs where I spent part of my youth, I reminisce about family dinners filling up on mountains of cheese, doughy pasta and soul-gratifying red sauce.
I’m particularly picky about red sauce, which my Sicilian grandfather and my mother used to cook from scratch, letting it simmer for hours, filling the house with blissful aromas. The perfect red sauce should exhibit sweet and savory notes, tomato tang and garlicky goodness. My Sicilian aunts, cousins and mom all disagree about what was in grandpa’s pasta sauce recipe when I tried to document it. It seems each has their own version as great family recipes tend to evolve. I wish I’d written it down from grandpa Alberto when I was younger. But the taste memory lingers… and I’m evolving my own version of red sauce at home. I also fondly remember NJ family favorite neighborhood restaurant, Cafe L’Amore, just down the hill from us in North Jersey, a place where red sauce reigns.
In my chosen home of San Francisco, incredible and authentically regional Italian food abounds, matched by our Italian population…
Dining and Cooking