CAPPUCCINO has a strange

connection to aspecies of monkey

LITTLE ITALY RECIPE:ANISETTE BISCUITSBY ARTUSO PASTRY

GINO’S PASTRYHITS THE BIG

SIX•OHBY ELISA VALENTINO

BEWARE...JUST BECAUSE IT HAS

THE LITTLE ITALY LOGO...DOESN’T MAKE IT A

LITTLE ITALY PRODUCT.

Happy Valentine’s Day

670 East 187th Street • Bronx, NY 10458 • 718-367-2515

ArtusoPastry.com

This is an interactive pdf. Most websites are linked and active. Remember to use the yellow “Click Now and Order” arrows throughout the magazine for instant on-line product purchases.

Have Fun and Enjoy!This publication is brought to you by Arturo Vialeand the merchants of “Little Italy in the Bronx.”

Please feel free to forward the pdf to any Little Italy loverthat you may know. To receive free magazines in the future,

email “Mangia” to ArthurAvenueShopper@gmail.com

CONTENTSSaturday, in the Park, I Think it Was the Fourth of July ........4Cappuccino has a Connection to a species of Monkey............8Gino’s Pastry Hits the Big Six-Oh ................................................10Little Italy Recipe: Anisette Biscuits by Artuso Pastry.........16Op-Ed: Just because it has the Little Italy Logo,

Doesn’t Make it a Little Italy Product...........................18Travelin’ Cousins - Borgatti’s - 85 Years Strong! .....................22

CONTRIBUTORSARTURO VIALE .........................................................................EditorELISA VALENTINO...................................................Contributing Writer

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:If you would like to share your stories with the readership of ArthurAvenue’s Mangia Magazine, you can submit your articles to us forpublication. Files must be in Microsoft Word format and word count should be500-1500 words. If you include a photo(s), please send a hi-res jpegand include a short 1-2 sentence photo description. Publication distribution date is the 10th of each month. Articlesmust be submitted before the 1st. Story inclusion will be at the dis-cretion of the editor. Email your articles and photos to: ArturoViale@gmail.com, you willbe contacted by email if your article is chosen for publication.

ADVERTISEMENTS:Placing ads in our magazine is very simply and inexpensive. Fullpage, full color ads in our digital magazine are only $80. Fee in-cludes typeset and design, as well as links to your online websites.If the magazine is “hard-copy printed,” price per ad will be $300 -which will include BOTH the physical booklet AS WELL AS the dig-ital online e-Magazine with links. You can pay for your ad throughour graphic design website at BronxAdGroup.com.

2307 ARTHUR AVENUE, BRONX NY

718-584-3583

HOW ABOUT SOMEARTHUR AVENUE

CALZONES THIS WEEK?

WE SHIP ANYWHERE IN THECONTINENTAL UNITED STATES!

HOME OF THE SICILIAN PIE & THE MINI CALZONE...SINCE 1949!

Ciccaro

ne P

ark (c. 1935)

Mangia Magazine 5

Now that’s the official history of ArthurPark. The unofficial history is a little more extensive anda lot more personal. It would be ludicrous to write astory about The Park that triedto encapsulate every aspect ofit. First off, it’s almost ninetyyears old - and it saw hun-dreds of visitors a day - every-day. That’s millions andmillions of park-goers over itshistory. Each of them havingtheir own recollections ofwhat the park meant to them growing up. That’s a lotof memories!

Even individually, the park’s meaning diversi-fies over the course of our lives. As a child, as ateenager and as an adult - the park’s function and pur-pose in our lives changes. With that many people -having that many memories - at that many differentpoints in their lives, it would take an encyclopedia toaccount for all the great times we had in that park. AndI’m not sure a 32 vol-ume set would evencome close, so I won’teven try. All I can dois recollect the onememory I have ateach stage in my lifethat stands out themost. You may nothave been there withme, but if you grewup here, you’ll stillunderstand them. Sohere it goes...

As a young child, you usually get to the parkwith your mom. No rough stuff, nothing dangerous(mom won’t allow it) just easy kid things. So your firstmemories are usually the swings and seesaw. I hated

the baby swings right from theget go. They were ridiculous.Those bars that slid down infront of you to hold you in! Itwas embarrassing. But what areyou going to do? You’re three,your mom’s right there. That’sit. When we got older andmade it to the slide, things gota little interesting. The moms

didn’t watch every second, so we got a little crazy.Someone sat on the bottom of the slide as an anchorand we all slid down with our feet hanging over theside and tried to knock him off the slide on his butt.Not exactly a UFC championship cage match, but foreight years old, that’s as crazy as you were going to get.

As you got a little older, the swings got better.No, not those swings, the other swings - the “big guy”

swings. They had adaring trapeze gameattached to them.The big swings werebuilt very close to thefence that separatedthem from the hand-ball court. So youswung on the bigswings as high asyou could - andjumped off - fifteenfeet off the ground.No, you didn’t fall.The game was to

“Vincent Ciccarone Playground is one of nine New York City Parks & Recreation playgrounds openedon July 15, 1934. They were built using a $250,000 War Memorial Fund that had been established in 1921 bythe New York City Police Department. By 1934 the fund, never spent, had grown in value to $350,000. Com-missioner Robert Moses, seeking additional open spaces for children, obtained a legal ruling permitting use ofthe fund for playground development. The ruling mandated that each property would honor the memory of asoldier who gave his life in combat by name, and that it be accompanied by a commemorative plaque.”

ArturoViale.com

Friends in Ciccarone Park, c.1986. Photo (c) Arturo Avenue Shopper.

6 Mangia Magazine

grab the fence when you releasedfrom the swing. The winner was who-ever grabbed the highest part of thefence. There was an occasional slip upand you fell. A twisted ankle here orthere, but no major trauma.

Once your teens and earlytwenties come, the park is a differentplace. There may still be a mom or dadthere, but not YOUR mom or dad -that’s the difference. Now the park isa hangout. The same old place is awhole new place, if you can under-stand that. This is when your Univer-sity of Arthur Avenue ball-bustingdegree begins. A day in the park didn’tstart until you heard the words...“Lupini, peanuts, shish-kabob.” Thatwas the call of a thick accented manon the corner of the park selling(spoiler alert) lupini beans, peanutsand shish kabobs on a stick. This was a nice, harmlessman who made his living off of these three items. I did-n’t love lupini beans, they were okay. He’d sell them toyou in a clear sandwich bag for 50¢ and you justsqueezed them and they shot in your mouth. The prob-lem was, there were just so many you could eat. Whatwere you going to do with the rest? You can’t throwfood out, that’s a sin. So, you started squeezing themand shooting the naked beans at your friends. Maybeyou’d get lucky and get someone in the eye. (Hey, itwas a rough neighborhood. What can I tell you?)

A lot of memories were attached to those days,and most of them were sports related. That’s one thingI was always happy about. My friends weren’t trouble-makers. Our lives, pretty much, revolved around sports

- thank God. You would think that if you’re in a citypark - in the Bronx - at midnight, you must be up tono good. There’s simply nothing else to do at that timeof the night! Right? Boy are you wrong...

Tackle football in the snow, fast pitch box ballagainst the handball court and, of course, three onthree “no-lay ups allowed” basketball. All being playedat one, two and three o’clock in the morning. Yelling,screaming, arguing all night long. And believe it or not,no cops. Not once. We did this for years and not onecop - ever!

I can’t say there were never any issues, therewere. Joe Botti (r.i.p.) owned the funeral parlor acrossthe street from the park. He also lived above it. Onceor twice a week, he’d open his window and start

LUPINI PEANUTS SHISK KABOB

Mangia Magazine 7

screaming... “Louie, if youdon’t shut up I’m gonnashoot you right from mywindow.”

Poor Louie. Therewere over ten of us outthere, but only he got sin-gled out to get shot. Don’tget me wrong, Louie wasloud, but a few times hewasn’t even there and JoeBotti still only threatenedhim from the window. Iguess some people’s rep-utation just precedesthem, no matter what.

One night, a realbig argument started.Over what? Who knows?Who cares? What’s thedifference? It was threeo’clock in the morning.All the normal Arthur Av-enue rhetoric came out.“You’re an idiot. No, your mother’s an idiot.” Maybe alittle pushing and shoving. That’s usually as far as itwent. This time, however, it got a little crazier. Myfriend Robbo was so adamant about his argument, thathe wasn’t going to give in. He took the basketball, heldit out in front of him like a football, and punted it withall his might. And we all stood there and watched itshoot away into the sky. Like a jap rocket on theFourth of July, it sailed over the park fence, completelyover 188th Street and landed. Where? Where do youthink?... on Joe Botti’s roof. We all stood there stunnedand someone sarcastically said “you think Joe Bottiwould be mad if we knocked on his door and askedhim to get the ball for us?” We all started laughing andjust went back to our club at 3:30 in the morning. Markmy words, to this day, there’s a deflated basketballsomewhere on Joe Botti’s roof.

My most recent memories of the park as an activeBelmont adult include several Christmas Tree lighting

events started by the Arce Family of D’Bari FuneralHome (yes, Joe Botti’s old place!), as well as a streetnaming ceremony for Belmont patriarch Joe Zinzi. Allof these were more official in nature, and I was theremore as a neighborhood representative. But I still re-member looking around the re-modeled park duringthe ceremonies and seeing the toddlers laughing, theteens hanging out, and the old timers playing bocciball. All in one park, but at the same time, all in theirown little world. You see that the life cycle of the parknot only continued after you left, but you realize that itwas cycling the whole time - even before you were everthere in the first place. You were just a small piece of alarger puzzle. They were probably playing crazy, made-up park games 20 years before you were born... andthere will probably be an endearing street vendor thatall the kids will love - 20 years after you’re gone. �

It's a coffee world - period. Black, brown, macchiato, espresso,cappuccino, latte - all of them - are fancy ways to take in your morn-ing’s caffeine. (Sometimes not just your morning ’s.) Many of the terms for coffee drinks come to us from Italian,and sound very old-worldish in nature. But in actuality, they areterms more of UTILITY than MYSTIQUE. “Espresso” comes fromthe Italian word that means "pressed-out," which explains how thecoffee drink is made. “Latte” simply means “milk” in Italian. So“Caffe Latte” sounds real cool and exotic, but it really simply meanscoffee - with milk. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure thisstuff out. But cappuccino is an exception to the rule. Yes, it’s an Italianword, but doesn’t refer to coffee. It’s actually not even linked to thefood industry at all. Believe it or not, its name is rooted in an orderof friars - from over 500 years ago. The Capuchin friars are members of the larger Franciscan or-ders of monks, and their order was founded in Italy back in the16th century. They were renowned for their missionary work amongthe poor, as well as their dedication to extreme austerity, poverty,

and simplic-ity. T h e s efriars werealso knownfor theirdress. Theywore a sim-ple brownrobe that in-cluded a long,pointed hood that hangs down the back. The Italian word for thisdistinctive hood is “cappuccio”, which gave rise to the Italian namefor the order - The Capuchins. When the cappuccino drink was first introduced in Italy, it wasnamed after these Capuchin friars because the color of theespresso (after it was mixed with frothed milk) was similar to thebrownish color of the Capuchin hood. It was very simplistic in ori-gin, but the name stuck. A few centuries later, when scientists were giving out namesto primates, they bestowed the name “capuchin” on a species ofmonkey with coloring that the scientists thought resembled thehoods worn by the monks. Voila - Capuchin Monkeys (at least thiername) arrived on the planet in the early 1800s. Italian street per-formers, known as organ grinders, often traveled with Capuchinmonkeys, but many feel this is just a coincidence - since thisspecies of monkey is indigenous to Central and South America. Itis probably the ease of their transport - and the little food theyneeded due to their size - that made these men choose this monkey.Not an Italian link at all! Again, it was the color of the monkey,(that matched the color of the hood), that gave them the name.

So there you have it. A name link between a deli-cious Italian drink and a cute, musically-inclined

primate. Neither name ethnically nor geneticallybased. Both due simply to their brownish

color. So these friars may not have in-vented the cappuccino, but it’s thanksto them that this beloved beverage (and

the monkey) have their names. �

Italian organ grinder with Capuchin Monkey.

Cupuchin monk in brown robewith cappuccio hood.

8 Mangia Magazine

“CAPPUCCINO HAS A VERY STRANGE CONNECTION TO A SPECIES OF MONKEY”

580 East 187th Street • Bronx, NY 10458

(718) 584-3558

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10 Mangia Magazine

Little Italy Pastry Shophits six decade anniversary.

A penny for goodluck plus fifty dollars is whatGino Raguso received for hisfirst week of work in theUnited States back in 1957.The fifty dollars didn’t lastlong, having to support a wifeand a baby on the way, but the good luck spanned alifetime of personal and professional success.

Born July 31, 1932 in a town called Gravina inBari, Italy - Gino was destined to follow the familytrade of pastry. As a young man, Gino toiled long hoursperfecting his craft. To the Raguso family of Bari, bakingwas much more than a business – it was a way of life.The ideal Gino later carried with him to the UnitedStates and imparted onto his own family.

After a two-year stint in the Italian military,Gino was wed to Chiara Signorile at the age of 24 onJanuary 21, 1957. Less than seven months later, thenew bride and groom immigrated to the United Statestaking residence in the Bronx, New York. Severalmonths later, their firstchild, Jerome, was born- and the second gen-eration was underway.

Gino’s first jobin United States was asmall pastry shop in theBronx called Marino’s.It was there that hisemployer bestowedupon him a penny forgood luck along withhis first paycheck. A fewmonths later, Gino leftMarino’s for DeLillo’s

Pastry Shop on E. 187th Streetand the five dollar a week in-crease.

In 1960, Gino continuedthe family tradition by openinghis own pastry shop on thecorner of Hoffman and 187thStreets. In 1965, Gino’s Pastrymoved to its current address of

580 E. 187th Street in the heart of the Bronx’s LittleItaly.

The success of Gino’s Pasty Shop was indeed alabor of love. Gino and Chiara worked long, hard hours- seven days-a-week - while raising six children: thefirst four only a year apart from each other. As withother Italian family businesses - Jerome, Vito, Angela,Michael, Laura, and Lucy are all graduates of the Ra-guso training program – having worked evenings, Sat-urdays, Sundays and holidays in the family’s business.

Like any other family story, Gino’s had its shareof heartbreak as well. In 1990, the Raguso’s unexpect-edly lost Gino, their father and patriarch, after he suf-

fered a heart attack.Years later, theiryoungest son Michaelpassed away at 51 inJune of 2013.

In 2016, Gino’swas honored to havebeen featured in ChazzPalminteri’s Bronx Tale– The Musical onBroadway. Seeing thestorefront, right onstage, was a dreamcome true. Gino issurely looking downfrom heaven and smil-

TravelinCousins.com

It All Started Back in 1960...by Elisa Valentino

Mangia Magazine 11Gino & Chiara RagusoPhoto (c) Raguso Family

ing with pride. Now in 2021, Gino’s enters it’s 61st year, and

the eldest son, Jerome, carries on his father’s name bydesigning the perfect wedding cake for the perfectbride.

Jerome, along with fiancé Giovanna, hasnow transformed Gino’s into a full café. They serve tra-ditional Italian espresso and cappuccino to go with thetraditional Italian pastries - especially their world fa-mous cannolis.

Celebrating 60 years was made even sweeter in2020 with a new Gino’s pastry specialty called the“Donnoli” thanks to Jerome’s creative twist on theirclassic cannoli.

Gino’s has gotten national consumer attentionincluding the adulation of Bronx-born celebrity ChazzPalminteri for its original Donnolis which can best bedescribed as a cannoli cream stuffed doughnut.

I first became aware of this new pastry sensa-tion on a Twitter post, to which I immediately repliedwith my desire to do a feature story about this newdoughnut specialty. Shortly thereafter I heard backfrom Jerome and we scheduled a time to meet at hisshop.

My curiosity was piqued as to how he came upwith the idea to combine one of America's favoritefried dough desserts with the quintessential Italian,cannoli cream.

Determined to find out, my mind started wan-dering to other great "unexpected" food combos thatmade it into popular food culture - peanut butter andchocolate; pepperoni and pizza. Maybe cannoli creamand doughnuts was the next great staple!

Clearly, bakers have been stuffing doughnutsfor decades with jelly and custard. But, no one as ofyet had the ingenuity to take the ethnically-based andbeloved cannoli cream and fill anything besides a can-noli shell. What a great concept!

When I arrived at Gino's the store was hoppin'with local patrons. The care and patience with whichJerome and Giovanna extended to each customer wasa breath of fresh air in a modern society filled withrushing and pushing people through. It's no wonderthis pastry shop is still a vibrant dessert destinationafter six decades.

I brought my sixteen year old daughter Gianna(who loves Arthur Avenue!) along and we sat patientlywatching as trays of fresh cannoli shells were broughtout from the back, and clients enthusiastically orderedtheir selection of Italian baked goods and frothy cap-puccinos.

We were soon joined by Jerome and sat com-fortably in his store where I learned about his businessand its origins. Growing up in the business, Jerome hasclearly kept his parents’ legacy alive offering the verybest in Italian cookies, cakes and pastries. Eventhrough the worst of times, one of which is the recentCoViD-19 pandemic, Gino's continues to thrive thanksto his commitment and a loyal following.

Like other businesses all over and in the LittleItaly neighborhood, Jerome's establishment was af-fected by the current health crisis. In addition to theirwedding cake business which makes up roughly 75%of their business, Gino's is also an important supplierof desserts to the neighborhood restaurants. With thecancellation of weddings and restaurant closures dueto the mandates of the pandemic, Covid-19 had a chal-lenging effect on business.

12 Mangia Magazine

JoAnn & Jerome on set of A Bronx TalePhoto (c) Gino’s Pastry

One of the store's best-selling items are theircannolis, which are sold in-store, to restaurants and tocustomers around the country. To ensure absolutefreshness, cannoli shells and the store's proprietarycannoli cream are packaged separately for restaurantsand long-distance orders so they can be filled just priorto serving and eating.

With some ingenuity, Jerome decided to bringa new twist to the traditional cannoli and took an ital-ian baked confection, better known as the "bombolini"or what Americans would know as a doughnut, anddecided to fill them with cannoli cream. The result wasincredible, particularly after a number of Bronx-bornlong time celebrity friends tried his new creation - the"Donnoli."

Jerome shared with me that "After a few of myclose neighborhood celebrity friends like Tommy Mot-tola and Chazz Palminteri tried them, they becameregular patrons of the new "Donnoli." In fact, wordbegan to spread via social media after ChazzPalminteri's son, Dante and Mattola posted photosand comments about the Donnoli on their pages. Hewent on to say, "That's when I got calls from aroundthe country from people wanting to order them."

By this point, my mouth was watering. Then...Jerome served us two Donnoli variations. One "bom-

bolini" (or doughnut) filled with his traditional cannolicream and a second one filled with Nutella!

He told me that he realized there were lots ofpossible "fillings" he could offer and for those cus-tomers calling in to place orders he gives them someoptions. All shipped orders are sold with the empty"bombolinis" and the filling separately. "We are cur-rently shipping our Donnolis around the country, as faras California and Idaho, as well as closer states likeNew Jersey," says Jerome.

Folks, these are a must-try! Head to Arthur Av-enue to experience the yummy goodness. If you areunable to travel to the shop, drop them a line for a de-livery!

As Jerome says, Gino's is where you “cannoli”get the best! �

Editor’s note: While visiting Gino’s, you may very easilysee a face that you recognize. Frequent celebrity visitors in-clude Federico Castelluccio, Robert Davi, Vincent Pastoreand Domenic Chianese... as well as popular sports figureslike Lee Mazzilli, Mickey Rivers, David Cone and YankeeAmbassador Ray Negron.

13

Raguso Family Late 1960sPhoto (c) Raguso Family

Gino’s Pastry Box Label 2020. Photo (c) Gino’s Pastry

The Bronx Bookstore

Here's some secret Arthur Avenue trivia for you. The top photo at right shows Joe Pesci on

187th Street and Belmont Avenue. On Sunday, Octo-ber 12, 1992, Joe Pesci was the Grand Marshall of ourColumbus Day Parade in Little Italy. Posing for a photowith other neighborhood notables like Florence Petro-nio, Chiara Raguso and Mario Biaggi, Joe wore sun-glasses - even though it wasn't that sunny. He wasvery quiet and sluggish - but he wasn't drunk. None ofthe old timers in the neighborhood knew why. I knew.

Joe hosted Saturday Night Live the night be-fore. In his monolog, he made note of the occurrencesof the previous week’s show. Sinead O’Connor hadtorn a photo of Pope John Paul II in half after her per-formance, screaming ‘fight the real enemy.’ This sentmany Catholic Americans into a frenzied uproar. Joeretained the photo for his monolog, and had it tapedback together. It was great - and the audience lovedit. Pesci went on to jokingly say that she was lucky thatHE wasn’t last week’s host. “If I were host, I would’vegave her such a smack. I would’ve grabbed her by her,her... eyebrows.” (Sinead O’Connor is a bald woman.)

SNL is a ninety minute live show that ends at1AM. It is well known that there are after-show partiesthat the cast go to that last until the sun comes up. Heprobably didn't hit the sack until 5AM, but showed upto our four hour affair the next day (sunglasses andall) and did a great job. Thanks Joe. �

Saturday Night Live - October 11, 1992.Click to watch Joe Pesci’s monolog ---->

A Moment in...

Belmont HistoryOCTOBER 12, 1992

Mangia Magazine 15

JOE PESCI IS GRAND MARSHAL OFLITTLE ITALY’S COLUMBUS DAY PARADE

16 Mangia Magazine

Ingredients:• 1 cup sugar• 3 cups bread flour• 1 tablespoon baking

powder• ½ teaspoon anise seed

(optional)• 1 cup Crisco shortening• 3 fresh eggs• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract• ½ teaspoon anisette oil

(available in health food stores, or use extract found in a grocery spice rack)

Directions:• Preheat the oven to 350° F.• Mix all the dry ingredients, including the anise seed for those

who decide to use it, together in the bowl of a mixer. • Add the Crisco and mix until dispersed in the flour. • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for about 3 minutes at medium speed. • Deposit the ingredients into a pastry bag. Using two cookie sheets, squeeze out (or form

with your hands if not using a pastry bag), two even loaves lengthwise, about 1 ½ inches wide and 12 inches long.

• Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes then gently move to a cutting board.

• Cut ¾ inch- thick slices. Lay them back onto the sheet pans, return pans to 350° oven, and toast, 20 minutes, until very crisp and deeply golden brown.

**Tip**: If you prefer stronger anise flavor in these wonderfully tender biscotti, you can add the optional anise seed to this recipe.

ANISETTE BISCUITSYIELDS APPROXIMATELY 24 BISCUITS

I learned a very valuable life les-son in the summer of 1998. I had afairly successful print shop that spe-cialized in flyers and weekly circu-lars for many Bronx retailers. Eagerto please, I made sure I included allthe images of the products on sale.(Back then, they called them “slicks”due to the glossy paper the manufacturing company gaveyou to display their products). I thought it looked a lotmore professional and gave the customer a clearer viewof what to look for on the shelf.

‘Stop the presses’ became a real thing for me thatsummer. During a normal Friday circular run for oneof my major supermarkets, a phone call came from itsowner telling me a product was wrong on the proofthat I had sent to him. Raisin Bran was on the circularat 14 oz., when in actuality, it was 13 oz. I looked atprevious circulars on my computer and realized it was14 oz. all those times before. Did I get it wrong for thelast year and never caught it? He said ‘no’ and told meto stop by the next day to get paid and he’d explain itto me then.

I got schooled in life that next day. He told me itwas something called downsizing. In simple terms, in-stead of raising the price of the item, you simply keepthe price the same, keep the box the same, keep thecolors the same – but put less in the box. Now you’remaking more on the item without actuallyraising the price. Something that they hopethe public doesn’t catch on to.

He then told me to run to the back ofaisle one to get a 5 lb. bag of Domino sugar.An item that my mom had been buyingsince before I was born. When I returnedwith the bag, he pointed to the size writtenon the bottom. It was 4 pounds, not 5. Samebag, same color, same everything. But asmall 4 where the small 5 used to be. That’sit. Born and raised in the Bronx, with a col-

lege degree, and I felt like an idiot.Let me be clear on something –

this is NOT illegal, not at all. Aslong as they change that weightnumber on the bag or box, it’s100% legit. It got to the pointwhere so many people were begin-ning to catch on, they started to put

weights on some items in grams, not ounces. Not be-cause the product came from England or France, sim-ply because they didn’t think you can do theconversion in your head. Sneaky, but not illegal.

Okay, that was a long introduction, but what’s mypoint? My friend explained it to me that day while Iheld the Domino sugar in my hand...

Manufacturers want you to buy what you thinkyour buying. They want you to buy what you’re usedto. They want you to buy what you’ve always beencom fortable buying, without any glitches. They don’twant you to question it. As long as you recognize it,you’ll grab it. It’s a little condescending, but unfortu-nately, it’s true.

Our Little Italy logo has been a symbol of prideand quality for almost 50 years. The Arthur Avenue &187th Street Merchants’ Association had it hand-drawn –from scratch – by a marketing agency in the early1970s. The agency gave the Association black andwhite copies of the logo on glossy paper (“the slicks”),

but no electronic version. If the merchantswanted to use this logo in their advertising,they had to make a ‘copy’ of the slick and lit-erally ‘paste’ it on to their ad. (yes, that’s wherethe computer term ‘copy and paste’ came from,it’s an old print-industry term). This was finefor the 70s, but the 80s arrived, and weneeded an electronic version of the logo.

In 1989, my company was proud torecreate – line by line, dot by dot – the origi-nal version of the logo in a clean, electronicAdobe Illustrator file. We were entering the

ArturoViale.com

Opinion EditorialJUST BECAUSE IT HAS THE LITTLE ITALY LOGO...DOESN’T MAKE IT A LITTLE ITALY PRODUCT.

18 Mangia Magazine

new digital millenium with a sharp clean recognizablelogo. We were now able to change its size and color atwill, and transfer it to anyone - in seconds. We loved it,and we were proud to do it. Today, the only originalAdobe Illustrator version of this logo, from 1989, is stillon our computer. It’s been unchanged for over 30years. I thought this would be a blessing, it ended upbeing a curse. I‘ll explain...

The internet soon took over the world and ourlogo – created to show the quality of the merchants ofLittle Italy – was now everywhere. I mean everywhere.It was on menus in Westchester. It was on awnings inConnecticut. Everywhere.

e-Commerce trade eventually became a monster.Now, things could be sold online, without being tasted,or even touched. All it had to be was recognizable onthe screen . It worked. Buying on the internet was thenew normal. That logo is now on items everywhere,and very little of those items are made in Little Italy.

Why does this work so well? Simply put, you’rerecognizing the logo or packaging – equating it withsomething you know and trust – and clicking ‘buynow.’ You’re purchasing something that you think youidentify with – and not questioning it. It’s the 4 lb.Domino sugar bag all over again. Only this time, its nota matter of quantity, it’s a matter of quality.

Don’t blame yourself. I told you in the beginning,this has been going on for over 100 years. Nefariouspeople, smarter than you and I, have been doing thisfor decades, and they’ll continue to do it. Why? I toldyou already. It’s not illegal. As long as they’re the right-ful owners of the logo, as long as the product IN thejar matches the product name ON the jar, as long asthe label weight matches the actual weight of the prod-uct - what law are they breaking? None....none, what-soever.

It’s up to you and I to know what we’re buying. Youhave to know you’re buying 4 pounds of sugar and not5. You have to know you’re buying 13 ounces of RaisinBran and not 14. You have to know the sauce your buy-ing is not from Dave in the market, it’s from a plant inthe midwest. That’s on us, the buyers, not the sellers.

There are hundred of families in Little Italy – nowmulti-generational families – that put their honor andpride into their products. That logo was a representa-tion of that honor and pride. Waking up at 4AM, get-ting to work by 6AM, and creating their products in

time for them to open their doors for you at 9AM.Sound familiar? It should. This is how you grew up.‘Buying from the old neighborhood because you love theirproduct’ should mean ‘Buying from the old neighborhoodbecause you love their product’ NOT buying from some-one who nefariously trademarked the logo and is massproducing similar products elsewhere.

So, if your looking for authentic Little Italy Pastries- the ones that you grew up on, be sure to click on Ar-tuso, DeLillo, Egidio, or Gino’s Pastry. If it’s macaronior pasta that you want, go to the sites of Terranova orBorgatti Ravioli. Great imported and domestic coffeecan be found at Cerini or Marie’s Coffee.

Ya’ know what? I’m sure Omaha steaks are great –if that’s what you want. But don’t click on that red,white and green neighborhood logo next week if youwant honest to goodness Little Italy meat. If you’relooking for anything like Grandma Santina’s pancettaor Zia Mafalda’s pinwheels, you better go to Vincent’sor Peter’s Meat, you won’t be disappointed.

Most of them have an online store. If they don’t,call them. They’ll be happy to ship you whatever youneed – right from their own oven or freezers.

On the other hand, if you don’t mind your gravycoming from a factory in Sandusky, Ohio – or yourgnocchi traveling out of a mid-western town withlarge, very impressive, industrial smoke stacks, that’sfine. Click and order away. But if your children look upat you from the dinner table one day and say “hey ma,this gravy sucks. I thought you said that neighborhood youcame from had the greatest food. Ragu is better than thisstuff.” You better be ready with an answer.

Tell them something. “Mommy screwed up. Shebought with her eyes and not with her head. They had anice logo on the jar. Don’t worry, I’ll call Mike’s Deli or Tei-tel Brothers tomorrow and I’ll have the real stuff here fornext time.”

You shouldn’t disappoint your children. That’s justwrong. If you’re not going to order it directly from theneighborhood merchants that your parents loved andtrusted - just make it yourself - I’m sure you’ll do agreat job...

...of course, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Opinion Editorial

Mangia Magazine 19

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1. Although I never married, I have three children. My youngest are twins named Anton and Olivia.2. During World War II, while running for shelter from a raid, I was struck by shrapnel and

wounded on the chin.3. I paid a dentist $5,000 to make my teeth look bad for my role in a 1991 movie that I was

appearing in. I later paid the same dentist $20,000 to have them fixed.4. Television was good to me, too. Although it was uncredited, I appeared in an episode of

Hill Street Blues and I made my directorial debut with an episode of Oz.5. The first film I starred in was the “The Death Collector.” After the film, I returned to The Bronx

and lived above Amici's Restaurant, where I was an employee.6. Before being cast in The Godfather Part II, I worked for the Drug Commission of New York State

as a recreational worker in a rehabilitation center.7. I was awarded the title "Class Flirt" in my senior yearbook. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree

in Communication Studies from Rutgers University in 1982.8. I joined the United States Navy after graduation from high school. I served aboard the USS

Lamberton and was honorably discharged in October 1941. In January 1942, I re-enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Robert DeNiro Ernest Borgnine Al Pacino James Gandolfini

Sophia Loren Chazz Palminteri Joe Pesci Dom Chianese

YOU KNOW THEIR ROLES, YOU KNOWTHEIR LINES, BUT DO YOU ”REALLY”KNOW YOUR ITALIAN ACTORS?

1. Al Pacino 2. Sophia Loren 3. Robert DeNiro 4. Chazz Palminteri5. Joe Pesci 6. Dom Chianese 7. James Gandolfini 8. Ernest Borgnine

22 Mangia Magazine

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Mangia Magazine 23

When we scheduled our tour to see some of the pret-tiest churches in the Bronx, Tanya and I never ex-pected we would be paying a visit to one of the mostbeloved shops in Little Italy!

While making our way from Our Lady of MountCarmel Church on 187thStreet and Belmont Avenue,we crossed the street to takesome pictures of the church.As we continued walking to-wards Hugh’s Avenue on ourway back to the car, we cameupon Borgatti’s Ravioli andEgg Noodle shop.

I commented to both Tanya and Alexandra Maruri,our tour guide, from Bronx Historical Tours, that I hadpassed this shop many times and had always wantedto check it out. Encouraged by Alexandra to go in andmeet the Borgatti family, we two Travelin' Cousinswere immedi-ately excitedabout the visit.

The impromptustop was un-doubtedly one ofthe high pointsof our day.

The Belmontsection of theBronx has cer-tainly undergonemany changesthroughout the

last eight decades, however, there’s a comfort inknowing that some things have stayed and remainthe same in a neighborhood that is rooted in ethnictradition.

As I walked into Borgatti’s I was triggered with a rushof memories from my ownchildhood and Italian up-bringing. The only word Icould think of to describe itwas "old school." It felt likethe shops I would go in withmy grandmother when shewould do her marketing.Specialty shops for every-

thing, owned and managed by families. No slick dis-plays or modern retail fixtures. Just a warm feelingof times gone by when the products and servicesspoke for themselves.

It was clear that Alexandra was a familiar face as shewas greeted bythe friendlyfolks behind thecounter. Sheproceeded to in-troduce me andTanya, to whichwe received awarm and invit-ing welcome.

The rest of ourvisit was a puredelight asC h r i s t o p h e rBorgatti, great-

TRAVELIN’ COUSINS: BORGATTI’S RAVIOLI & EGG NOODLES - 85 YEARS STRONG!

Article reprinted, with permission, from “Travelin’ Cousins” blog site. August 2018

(c) TravelinCousins.com

TravelinCousins.com

(c) TravelinCousins.com

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(c) TravelinCousin

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Mangia Magazine 25

grandson of founder, Lindo Borgatti, imbued us withthe history of his family's pasta shop and captivatedus with a first-hand glimpse into their specialty pastamaking.

The store was opened in 1935 by Christopher's great-grandparents, with Lindo Borgatti, the first genera-tion owner of the store. His son, Mario Borgatti,began working at the store at seventeen years oldand became synonymous with the store, which is stillthriving and going strong eighty years and four gen-erations after its founding.

Borgatti's Ravioli and Egg Noodle Shop still providesthe community with quality ravioli and pasta. Mov-ing strong into the 21st Century, the company's prod-ucts are shipped around the country, via their onlinestore, allowing for their homemade Italian specialtiesto be savored by pasta lovers near and far!

Christopher was amazingly friendly and knowledge-able and took us on a little guided pasta making tourof their noodles. Running the sheets of pastathrough the cutting machine, which is in plain view

for customers to see, we witnessed varying widths cutbefore our eyes.

For anyone growing up in an Italian household, withan Italian grandmother, the pasta machine is easilyidentified in an instant! Of course, Grandma's wasmuch smaller and fit on the table. I still remembermaking pasta with her and both Tanya and I love thehomemade tradition so much that we still continueit with our kids!

As for the ravioli - which looked unbelievable - fresh,puffy pasta pillows filled with cheese - Christophershowed us the two sizes that they offered. As youcan see from the above sign, there is quite a varietyof ravioli, as well as pasta, from lasagna, manicottiand cavatelli pasta, to varying flavors such as spinach,whole wheat, mushroom and more!

A feeling of reverence for the family patriarch, MarioBorgatti, as well as founder, Lindo, is palpable withinthe store. Old photos, including beautiful weddingimages, line the walls, honoring the memories of theBorgatti men who went before Christopher and hisdad, also named Christopher, who continue to runthe business.

With the death of Mario Borgatti (Christopher'sGrandfather) in 2014, a beloved member of theArthur Avenue community, a tribute was paid withthe renaming of the street at the southeast corner ofEast 187th Street and Hughes Avenue to Mario Bor-gatti Way. He died at the age of 97.

Fortunately, the store lives on!!-Elisa

(c) TravelinCousins.com

(c) TravelinCousins.com

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