BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – This space prides itself on its Italian meals, so owning a single cafe earn 4 of the five types in an Italian sauce contest is outstanding. It occurred this earlier weekend at the Southern Park Mall.
On Thursday, To start with News acquired the tricks driving the sauces at Papa GeGe’s Italian Villa in Boardman.
Papa GeGe is Eugene Razzano.
“I’m building fettuccine alfredo. It was one particular of the dishes the judges enjoyed,” Razzano said.
Initial Information Anchor/Reporter Stan Boney was between the judges at the Sunday Sauce Showdown at the Southern Park Mall in which Papa GeGe’s Italian Villa competed in opposition to nine other dependable Italian Eating places and received 1st prize in 4 of 5 types: classic, alfredo, bolognese and vodka.
The Italian restaurant is positioned on Route 224 throughout from the Shops at Boardman Park.
“Actually, it was just too much to handle. I just started off superior-fiving my personnel. I just claimed, ‘This is great,’” Razzano stated.
Razzano is the owner and chef driving what are now the most decorated Italian sauces in the Mahoning Valley. For 20 several years, he owned Sghetti’s Italian Restaurant in New Castle before moving to Boardman eight yrs back.
“I like to be in the kitchen area. I preferred to look at my grandmother cook. I favored to look at my mother prepare dinner, and I just have a factor for it. I like to do it,” he said.
Razzano is so in contact with his Italian roots, the restaurant’s dining area is lined with classic photos of his spouse and children.
“Well, that’s my excellent uncle Ludovic and my good uncle Frank — which is my maternal grandmother’s brothers,” he mentioned.
But the foods is the rationale people today come to Papa GeGe’s Italian Villa — the insider secrets of which start off with high-quality ingredients.
“We use further virgin olive oil, Pecorino Roman cheese. We get major wheels, 60-pound wheels, every week and we grind it clean. We use imported pasta. We use a person of the finest tomato products and solutions on the market place,” Rozzano claimed.
As soon as the essential sauces are made, the rest falls into spot. The vodka sauce is half alfredo and 50 % marinara.
“The very same thing with our bolognese. We use the base sauce of our marinara, and we put our meat blend in there and which is how we have our bolognese,” Rozzano said.
At the Sunday Sauce Showdown, judges were supplied sauces by selection, not by cafe, so they had no strategy who’s sauce they ended up consuming.
Papa GeGe’s Italian Villa is also setting up to open a 2nd spot in October in New Middletown.
It was previously recognised as the Italian Village but the identify was modified about a year ago.