Red Sauce – An American Icon?

Thank you, Bon Appetit, for “Red Sauce America ” a celebration of the Italian American Restaurants we love. (1)  .

Who doesn’t have a memory, or many, made in an Italian-American “red sauce” restaurant? I do.

As I child, my family frequented Banchero’s, in San Leandro, California. Your meal came in courses – a relish tray, soup, iceberg lettuce salad, red-sauced spaghetti and ravioli – all served family style. Then came your entree, and finally, spumoni or bright orange sherbet. We ate there so many times I can taste each course and smell the chicken livers my Nana always ordered. 

Despite the Banchero’s meals and two trips to Italy, I didn’t understand red sauce, or Italian-American restaurants, until I married a Del Matto, son of the owners of Del Mattos Italian restaurant in Columbus Ohio. It took pots of my husband’s red sauce and a few trips to Ohio to get it. 

When my kids were born, they needed no introduction. Red sauce was baked into their little souls and remains a top comfort food.

A red sauce “day to remember” happened on a trip to Ohio. I asked “Papa” to take us into the kitchen of Del Matto’s restaurant so my children could help him make red sauce and fresh pasta – his way.

Now, years later, both kids are grown and creating their own versions of red sauce. Del Mattos restaurant is closed and my father-in-law has passed, but red sauce memories live large in our family.

Here in Seattle, we’ve got a favorite “red sauce” restaurant. But there’s nothing better than adding a couple of leaves to the table and gathering a crowd for simple  spaghetti and red sauce.

Hungry? Link to my husband Brad’s red sauce. In a pinch I make it, but his always seems to taste better. In a pinch I make it, but his always seems to taste better.

1. Red Sauce America, Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2019.
2. Lorelle’s Red Sauce Recipe

© Lorelle Del Matto 2019