Gibson Tal Farlow

**Max405** · 10-30-2015, 11:09 AM

Gary, I picked that Up immediately. Scary huh?
Great Post buddy.
Joe D

**GNAPPI** · 10-30-2015, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco

Gary, I picked that Up immediately. Scary huh?
Great Post buddy.
Joe D

Just think, in another 20-30 years nobody will pick that up even WITH surnames like Napolitano and DeNisco.

Well at least our generation (AFAIK) has kept the culinary culture alive, many of my friends think Olive Garden is real Italian food.

**Greentone** · 10-30-2015, 02:07 PM

Here's the test: what goes on spaghetti? Sauce or gravy? [answer: (the _real_ Italian answer) gravy]

**vinnyv1k** · 10-30-2015, 02:28 PM

That's the one thing I miss about the east coast. Great Italian food. Here in Ca. it's ketchup on pasta. Luckily I grew up with Italians so I can make one mean Spaghetti sauce/gravy. I make it every year for my wife's birthday. Monja, Monja.

**goldenwave77** · 10-30-2015, 07:52 PM

I don't even think Olive Garden is real food, much less Italian food.

Lots of Italians in San Francisco, or at least there used to be: Joe DiMaggio, Joseph Alioto, the guy who invented the Caesar Salad (extra heavy on the anchovies, please, when I order it).

My law school housemate was Italian in origin (Howard Beach, NY). He married an English girl he met while at Oxford, doing post-grad work. Whenever she would get uppity, he would remind her "My dear...when your ancestors were running around Northern Europe wearing animal skins, mine were writing treatises on courtly etiquette."

**vinnyv1k** · 10-30-2015, 09:43 PM

Yes SF has some 5 star Italian restaurants but that is where you must drive to for good Italian on the Pacific pond.

**Max405** · 10-30-2015, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by GNAPPI

Just think, in another 20-30 years nobody will pick that up even WITH surnames like Napolitano and DeNisco.

Well at least our generation (AFAIK) has kept the culinary culture alive, many of my friends think Olive Garden is real Italian food.

That is sad..
OG - I like their salad..

**Max405** · 10-31-2015, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Greentone

Here's the test: what goes on spaghetti? Sauce or gravy? [answer: (the _real_ Italian answer) gravy]

oh no, not again.
there is no Italian word for "gravy". The Italian words for Sauce are sugo, Ragu or salsa. My brother called it Gravy. I've never called it gravy. To me Gravy is the stuff you make from meat drippings. Turkey, Beef, Chicken... I've always called it Sauce. You can say I'm not Italian which is partly true because unlike my parents, I was born in America. My parents called it Marinara or pummarola, believe it or not.
So, neither one is right, wrong or Italian.
Graci.

**vinnyv1k** · 10-31-2015, 06:05 PM

All I know is I love Italian people and food.

**vinnyv1k** · 10-31-2015, 06:05 PM

and vino :-)

**nick1994** · 10-31-2015, 06:07 PM

so do some americans say tomato gravy? that sounds weird to me.

**neatomic** · 10-31-2015, 06:45 PM

when in san francisco, make sure to stop at one of its most beloved north beach institutions-liguria bakery-..family owned (& run!!) for over 100 years!!!..they make the best focaccia you could ever imagine...and wrap it in white paper with string!! the last of the best

Gibson Tal Farlow-photo-1-jpg

Gibson Tal Farlow-20110622-1582226-liguria-package-1-jpg

on xmas eve people line up to make sure they have some for xmas dinner

otherwise

Gibson Tal Farlow-liguria2-jpg

cheers

**Max405** · 10-31-2015, 07:12 PM

That's great neatomic.
I make a sauce that I first had in Sonoma. It's a merlot sauce with purée San marzano tomatoes (before they are cooked), garlic and parsley. I reduce 2-3 bottles of Merlot so all the alchohol is burned off. In a shallow pan, high heat. heat the garlic in olive oil add the purée tomatoes and finely chopped parsley (chop it when it's dried out) then pour in the merlot. Key.. High heat, shallow pan. I serve that with homemade small ravioli (1" sq.).
Its very rich, so if you have the gout, stay away..
it's unreal.

**vinnyv1k** · 10-31-2015, 07:16 PM

Yummy !!!

**neatomic** · 10-31-2015, 07:38 PM

here's more pics from liguria bakery...everything is done on premises...the baker gets in way before dawn and starts the ovens...since the foggy sf bay weather affects the dough, they keep all the windows shut!!!..ovens raging in an airtight environment...you see the bakers appear as if they just walked from a sauna...

truly a one of kind relic/experience..passed on from father to son

Gibson Tal Farlow-native2-jpg

and storefront run by the beautiful ladies of the family

wrapper supreme!

Gibson Tal Farlow-native12_aww_359-jpg

as a born nyc'er i've seen a lot of this kind of greatness, but this is truly a throwback in time..virtually unchanged in the 30 years i've been going!! places like this are goin so fast now..gods preserve'm..and honor them

cheers

ps- like that recipe joe d..the nana's used to use a touch of sugar..but i always preferred a little red vino!! balances any acidity of tomato or cooked garlic..basta..gettin hungry

**goldenwave77** · 10-31-2015, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco

oh no, not again.
there is no Italian word for "gravy". The Italian words for Sauce are sugo, Ragu or salsa. My brother called it Gravy. I've never called it gravy. To me Gravy is the stuff you make from meat drippings. Turkey, Beef, Chicken... I've always called it Sauce. You can say I'm not Italian which is partly true because unlike my parents, I was born in America. My parents called it Marinara or pummarola, believe it or not.
So, neither one is right, wrong or Italian.
Graci.

Time out. Growing up, I had a good friend Frank C.....c...e . His father was a tough Italian from the Bronx who had been a prizefighter in Mexico, and other places. We would play 2 on 2 basketball in his backyard/driveway until it got dark, and then I would get invited over for dinner, which was often "mac and gravy" (macaroni and 'gravy')--his description not mine.

**Max405** · 10-31-2015, 07:46 PM

That's awesome.
JD

**neatomic** · 10-31-2015, 08:01 PM

the "gravy" things seems to be a peculiarity of the bronx...i've only ever heard it called that by someone from there!!!

no pizza place in nyc..ever called their pizza toppings gravy and cheese!!!..it was sauce!!!...

and i went to them when they were 15¢ a slice!..the legend is that the price of a slice matches the subway fare..seems to hold true...in any event, the great places like aunt carmela's or sal's pizza or rays on 12th &6th called it sauce..tomato sauce..brown meat gravy..bronx excluded..haha

anybody know the home of worlds biggest slice?? benny tudinos hoboken nj

ok now im really hungry

cheers

**losaltosjoe** · 10-31-2015, 08:23 PM

Another vote for gravy. My grandparents were from Calabria (southern Italy) and immigrated to Boston via Ellis Island. Growing up it was macaroni and gravy. Although the macaroni always had a proper name (e.g., penne, rigatoni, linguine, etc.). Also, they NEVER drank white wine. Red wine only and never from a glass with a stem. But that's another discussion.

**neatomic** · 10-31-2015, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by losaltosjoe

Also, they NEVER drank white wine. Red wine only and never from a glass with a stem. But that's another discussion.

haha..so true!

cheers

**Stringswinger** · 10-31-2015, 11:00 PM

In South Philly it is gravy. In Manhatten it is sauce. Being from the East Coast and part Italian, I have to say that there is a lot of lousy gravy/sauce here on the left coast.

I ate a lot of pizza at the old Rays on sixth avenue. That was some good stuff...

**feet** · 11-01-2015, 12:17 AM

for what its worth, i've dealt with it in four different languages on three different continents now. never heard it referred to as gravy until this thread. if not specifying which sauce (bolognese, etc) or color, it was just sauce. even the english translations in other countries across europe (including italy) have referred to it/them as sauce.

gravy is for mashed potatoes.

**Stringswinger** · 11-01-2015, 01:09 AM

Neatomic, IIRC Rays was on 11th street, not 12th. I also liked Ray Bari's Pizza at 76th and 3rd Ave. Across the street from JHS 167 (my alma matter). I remember 20 cent slices, but not 15 cents. I'm thinking that you must have a few years on me (I'm 57).

**neatomic** · 11-01-2015, 01:29 AM

yeah i knew that uptown rays well..for a while every pizza place in nyc was a rays!!..hah...ala ray bari..the ovens were bari ovens

that downtown rays originally had caramelized onions on their slice...standard...11th!..i was usually coming from strand books on 12th!! or nyu

actually you have time on me, but all that melted mozzarella gave me good memory!! haha

cheers

**GNAPPI** · 11-01-2015, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by feet

for what its worth, i've dealt with it in four different languages on three different continents now. never heard it referred to as gravy until this thread. if not specifying which sauce (bolognese, etc) or color, it was just sauce. even the english translations in other countries across europe (including italy) have referred to it/them as sauce. gravy is for mashed potatoes.

My ex's family (Sicilian origin) called it gravy, my family (Naples) called it sauce. All of our grandparents were from "the other side" (Italy) any Italian born on here want to straighten this out?

Oh in Brooklyn and Queens pizza was 1 slice and a small soda for a quarter. My dad rememberes five cents for a slice. Now it's what? $3.00 for a piece of dough with sauce from a can? The pizza in Florida has sucked since I moved here in the 70's, still does :-)

Boy talk about a hijacked thread?