"I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end..." - James Taylor from the song "Fire And Rain"
If there is one thing that goes with Amato -- it's tomato. (Or should I say, with Amatta comes tomatta) Heck, there are so many Italians and part-Italians on this site -- if we came out with t-shirts, they should probably come with tomato-sauce stains, sprinkles of basil, and be sprayed with garlic-cologne. And if there is one thing this scribe knows other than Boxing -- it's pizza, pasta, and the 'RED SAUCE'.
I'm talkin the kind of sauce you have to "show I.D for"...
I'm talkin the kind of sauce where they can smell you comin from a few blocks away...
I'm talkin the kinda (jarred) sauce that would do our relatives and ancestors proud -- and not shame.
It took me many years to finally find...but I've found it.
Classico's Spicy Tomato & Pesto.
While I've had homemade sauce and a few from restaurants that I prefer ( * So bad was my addiction to Atlantic Street Pizza in Seattle's infamous 2-star sauce and pesto -- I actually asked them if I could just start 'injecting it intravenously' a.k.a "shoot it up like heroin') quite honestly...this one is far and away the best sauce I've ever bought in a store, and about as close as you can get to the 'real mccoy'.
Classico has a few good varieties actually, but the SPICY TOMATO & PESTO - in my opinion - is their "crown jewel", and the "undisputed world champion of jarred sauce".
* Note - Some of Classicos varieties/flavors...are actually very mediocre/average. In other words -- don't just randomly grab any flavor off the store shelf and think you're going to get THIS.
Biz ... I think I passed the word on to you months ago about Classico. I just check the cupboards here in the office and we've got several different varieties of Classico and also, straight from Tuscany, Lucini's Rustic Tomato Basil Sauce which we picked up at Costco. It is a gem as well! Now, if you are in the neighborhood ....
Are you guy's talking about sauce again? Bizzack, if you ever make it to my neck of the woods let me know and I'll have an Italian meal waiting for you. Homemade with fresh ingrediants.
Are you guy's talking about sauce again? Bizzack, if you ever make it to my neck of the woods let me know and I'll have an Italian meal waiting for you. Homemade with fresh ingrediants.
Are "we talkin sauce again"?
Yer damn right we are.
Were talkin the kinda sauce that makes the 'olive oil' ooze from your pores...
Wer'e talkin the kind that makes beads of sweat form at your forehead and drip down, and makes ya' look like you've just jogged a few miles when in fact you've been sitting stock-still...
Were talkin...ohh...*takes spoonful of the 'red stuff'*...were talkin -- serious "Bizz-ness" here Sal.
And yes -- *clasps hands and bows head in respect and gratitude* - I shall indeed take you up on that if I ever so happen to be in the area sir.
Biz ... I think I passed the word on to you months ago about Classico. I just check the cupboards here in the office and we've got several different varieties of Classico and also, straight from Tuscany, Lucini's Rustic Tomato Basil Sauce which we picked up at Costco. It is a gem as well! Now, if you are in the neighborhood ....
Jabardelli - (* listen to 'Jab' on this one here Sal -- the man clearly knows his sauce) I have known about the Classico (In particular the "S.T.P" = Spicy Tomato & Basil) for a few years now, but yes -- we did indeed banter a little about this a few months ago, and I recall you giving it your stamp of approval.
Now the other one Sal...Hmm...by god, I've never had that one! (and at Costco nonetheless?) Sounds interesting, and I'll give it a try. As for your area (Spokane) yes -- by god, we live to close to one another to not get together sometime. A mere six hours or so...(!)
Yes I have had Classico at a friends house once and I have to admit it was good for jarred sauce, but once when my wife was running late she used sauce from a jar and I could tell right away and said "What's this stuff"? No fooling Sal. I was never given sauce from a jar again.
I think I told you about how I grew up in NYC and after moving to Pa. my father started to truck tomatos to NYC to Italian neighborhoods and the old ladies would be waiting for the truck to pull up so they could buy fresh tomatos to make sauce. It was like something you would see in the movies like Bronx Tale.
I have to admit it was Classico that I had that time, at the time I first ate it I was stuck in the predominantly Italian neghborhood of Chambersburg a section of Trenton, N.Y.. my car broke down so I stayed at a friends house. About 8 years later I fought at a place called Baldisaris Regency in the same town, I lost a 3-2 split decision but I'm still talkin about the veal and Ziti I had that night. If your ever in the area check it out.
Sal, that kind of reminds me of a little story. A fellow by the name of Henry Hill told this to me about 7 or 8 years ago. Who is "Henry Hill"? Well, have you seen the (classic!) movie "Goodfellows"?
No, Henry Hill wasn't in that movie...Henry Hill basically WAS that movie. It was his life story that it was based off of, and Ray Liotta played the role of him in the movie. Anyhow, low and behold, Hill lived not more than FIVE minutes from my apartment in Seattle (a section called Queen Anne) and worked as a part-time chef not more than 2 or 3 minutes from there. He had just removed himself from the "Witness Protection Program" a few years prior, because (as he stated) "At this point in time, just about everyone that wants me dead is either dead themself or old and in prison." Initially, Hill was located to some kind of "middle of nowhere" type state. ( It was like a Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakotas, Montana type location... I don't honestly recall which one, but you get the general idea. He was for some reason moved to the Seattle-area a few years later...) The first location - needless to say - was quite a dramatic change of location/scenery for a mobster used to New York and places like Chicago and Vegas. However, he said the following, which I found to be a bit amusing...
"The worst part wasn't so much the drastic and sudden change in lifestyle, climate, or that type of thing... it was the lack of decent Italian food. I mean, I couldn't even find a good cup of Marinara sauce if my life depended on it. I swear, what those people considered to be "Penne and Marinara" was nothing more than ketchup & macaroni. That's part of the reason why I became a chef, actually..."
Bizzack I know all about Henry Hill. We grew up in the same neighborhood, the East N.Y. section of Brooklyn and Ozone Park N.Y... It's on the border line, my uncle knew him. I grew up on 76th street in Ozone Park and later moved a few blocks over to Brooklyn on McKinlley ave. The movie was shot in my old neighborhood and the stars used to eat at a restuarant known as Aldo's while they were filming, there were pictures up of all of the stars in the movie. Aldo's is now re-located in an old resturant that Gotti used to frequent back then it was called the "Alta Donna". When Aldo's was located at the old spot I met the kid that played the young Henry Hill, he was there for a communion party. Google search Ronnie One Arm and see what you come up with. He ran our neighborhood him and his gang, you know extortion rackets and gambling, they are all in jail now doing hard time for life. One time at a block party a kid from the neighborhood named Keith Vittori asked me " Sal could you beat up Eddie Wrecker" and I asked the kid why you asking me that? I told him that it didn't matter if I could beat him up because guy's like him wind up dead or in prison. Look him up, he's doing life behind bars for his involvment in the " Young guns Gang" where they commited murders in Florida for Ronnie One Arm and the Gambino crime family. Ronnies in jail until the day he dies. Yea Keith I beat them all.
Bizzack did you ever see the actor Peter Facinelli? He grew up on 77th street around the corner from me and the "Social Club". I went to school with his sister she was a good looking girl, he was just a little kid now he's married to Jenny Garth from 90210 fame.
Bizzack is Italian, I am Italian by way of Sicily, my father came from Sicily. There is no word in the Italian Language for gravy. There is for sauce, it is Salsa. I know alot of people in the Philly area call it gravy. What ever you call it sauce from a jar stinks.
I'm sorry... but I don't think it's possible to get good gravy from a jar. Are you sure you're italian?
Well...I don't know about gravy, but were talking sauce here.
The sauce is the boss.
And yes, I'm Irish-Italian with a Slovak last name ( * Gets me free parking in some counties ) and YES, by god -- I didn't think it was possible to get good sauce from a jar either!
That is...until I met the mighty "SPICY TOMATO & PESTO".
As for Salvatore, he just needs to open his mind a little on this one. "Open your mind Salvatore, and the truth (and sauce) shall set you free."
If you approach it with your cynical pre-conceived notions of what jarred-sauce is -- you probably won't even give it a chance. However, like I said, if someone were to simmer up some of this, and say : "This is my homemade sauce"...I almost guarantee you, you would say -- "Not too shabby".
As I have told you before I first had classico when my car broke down in Jersey and I stayed at my friend John Zuchetti's house in the Chambersberg section of Trenton, it used to be a big Italian neighborhood back in the day. Johns wife made macaroni with sausage and as they borth work busy schedules they made dinner using Classico. Knowing my cynical pre-conceived notions they asked " how do you like the sauce"? I have to admit it was good but considering that my 1973 Thunderbird was broke down and at a garage getting an axle installed I would have eaten anything that week out of respect for the people who were so kind to me in my time of need. It was good though for jarred sauce. Remember, no word for gravy in the Italian dictionary.
I highly doubt you had the 'S.T.P' you stubborn wop, as it just came out a few years ago. Go to a grocery store and grab a jar >>> But it HAS to be the S.T.P. Hey, you live in Pennsylvania? Christ -- the Classico FACTORY is somewhere in that state!
I don't care were the factory is. I think the version we had that night was from Sicily. It was not pesto, but I have to admit it was good. BTW, they make a very good Sicilian pizza with pesto sauce around the corner from where I live.
Are you guy's talking about sauce again? Bizzack, if you ever make it to my neck of the woods let me know and I'll have an Italian meal waiting for you. Homemade with fresh ingrediants. 
