Somewhere in the late 70's or 80's, red sauce was no longer cool. It was no longer authentic. Tuscan was 'in'. ... You could eat in Italian restaurants in New York for ten years and never even see red sauce. We were almost made to feel bad about any secret appetites we might retain for spaghetti and meatballs.
About forty miles outside of Birmingham, Alabama, tucked into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, sits one hole-in-the wall U.S.-based restaurant with food good enough to convince customers to load up the car and take the hour-long drive necessary to grab a plate. Chefs Valentin and Jose aren't cooking up Old World food exactly, but rather a combination of the hearty, comforting dishes that have come to define Italian-American cuisine, steaks of all sizes, and a variety of seafood dishes to boot.
This story starts with mass migration. In the late 19th century, economic conditions in Southern Italy had deteriorated and millions of Italians set sail for America in search of opportunity and the gold-paved streets of which they'd been told. Many settled in the northeastern United States, sometimes strictly segregated by region. In New York's Little Italy, Sicilians lived on Elizabeth Street, Calabrians on Mott. The newly settled immigrants did their best to cook familiar foods with the ingredients available in this unfamiliar country. Their children did the same, and then their grandchildren. Dish by dish, Italian American cuisine was born, a hybrid culinary tradition that has become inextricably woven into our country's foodways.
My first taste of the big leagues was when I worked at Mario Batali's restaurant Babbo. Interning at the hottest restaurant in New York at the time was such a formative experience. The signature dish there was beef-cheek ravioli, with a sauce made from crushed squab livers. I had never seen food like that before, and everything about that experience shaped me as both a chef and an entrepreneur.
While both spaghetti and meatballs are quintessential Italian dishes, they aren't traditionally served together in Italy. The combination of meatballs, called polpette, with tomato sauce and spaghetti stems from an influx of Italians immigrating to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where they found meat to be much more affordable and began to use it more liberally in their cooking.
Some retro dishes ( like Jell-O salad) firmly belong in the past. But, many culinary creations of yore - or, at least of the '60s and 70s - still totally hold up. Chicken Tetrazzini is one such dish. All hail the humble casserole: A cozy, one-pan meal built to please on a dime. Chicken Tetrazzini has the unique distinction of being economical and accessible, crowd-pleasing and crowd-filling, all while retaining the capacity to be elevated into an upscale comfort food.
Most evenings at SE Ankeny's Normandie, diners pack into the wooden tables and line the marble bar for plates of gochujang-glazed ahi and Parisienne gnocchi with Dungeness crab, finishing with calvados and madeleine cookies. But on a Sunday evening in December 2024, things were a little different. Rather than the familiar coastal French cuisine supported by a globe-trotting pantry, heaping plates of meatballs, eggplant parmesan, and "disco fries" filled the tables.
Once a sprawling industrial area, Northwest Portland's Slabtown has transformed over the last decade. Glitzy high-rise apartments tower over vestiges of the previous neighborhood, as well as newer retail boutiques and bottle shops. Restaurants like G-Love and Afuri thrum with evening activity, while coffee shops like Case Study and Good Coffee caffeinate the morning crowds. And for the last year, chef Gabriel Pascuzzi's Bistecca has been wooing diners to its fire-lit dining room for ribeyes, grilled foie gras, and caviar bumps.
Among the Italian enclaves that were established across the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century, Manhattan's Little Italy on Mulberry Street is arguably the most well-known. Yet it's far from the only neighborhood where Italian immigrants defined the commerce, culture, and spirit of the area. The Italian immigrants who poured into the U.S. from Sicily, Naples, Calabria, and beyond profoundly shaped America's food history and cuisine,
San Jose's food landscape is taking a hit with the sad closure of Rollati Ristorante after its final service today. Located at 181 East Santa Clara St. in Downtown San Jose, this modern Italian-American spot has served as a gathering place for memorable meals since opening in 2023. The team at Vine Hospitality expresses deep gratitude for the community's support and now shifts focus to their established venues in the city.
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