Something changes in an Italian kitchen in the middle of September. The windows that were open all summer start to close. The tomatoes that needed nothing in July are coming in heavier now, and the thought of standing over a pot for four hours stops sounding like a punishment and starts sounding like a Sunday. This is the season of the long sauce.
Gravy or Sauce?
In Baltimore, like in Philadelphia and Jersey and the old Italian neighborhoods of New York, you will hear it called gravy. Purists will tell you that is wrong, that sugo means sauce and that gravy is for turkey. Our view is that the word tells you where a family came from and how long their recipe has been in America, and that is a good thing to know about anyone.
Whatever you call it, the dish is the same: a tomato sauce simmered most of the day with big pieces of meat, sausage, pork, meatballs, maybe a braciole rolled around garlic and parsley. The meat flavors the sauce, the sauce tenderizes the meat, and by the time the family sits down the whole house smells like it. In Naples this is ragù napoletano, and it is nothing like the meaty Bolognese of the north. It is slower, redder and built around the pot, not the pan.
What Fall Brings to the Table
September is the hinge of the Italian year, when the kitchen pivots from raw to cooked. The last of the eggplant and peppers come in and get roasted or layered into something baked. Mushrooms show up. Squash is not far behind. The oven goes back on.
That is why our Dal Forno section of the menu, the baked dishes, earns its keep this time of year:
- Lasagna. Fresh pasta layered with ground beef, ricotta and mozzarella, tomato sauce and cheese.
- Eggplant Rollatini. Eggplant rolled with ricotta, spinach and roasted peppers, in a rose cream sauce.
- Parmigiana. Chicken, eggplant or veal, with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella over angel hair.
And on the pasta side, the two dishes that say Sunday more than any others: Spaghetti & Meatballs and Fettuccine Bolognese, our rose cream with ground beef and parmigiana.
The Weeknight Version
Of course, September is also when the school year starts and the calendar fills up. Not every night can be a four-hour sauce night. That is where carry-out comes in. A Meatball Sub or an Eggplant Parmigiana Sub on a Tuesday, a pizza on a Friday after the game, a tray of lasagna on a night when nobody has the energy to cook. Order online through Toast and it is ready when you are.
Save Sunday for Us
Or do what Italian families have always done and make Sunday the big one. We are open Sundays from 11 am to 9 pm, the dining room is ready for a table of eight, and the sauce has been going since the morning. Bring the kids, bring your parents, and stay a while. That is what the season is for.