52 Comments
User's avatar
Josie tavone's avatar

Ed, you makka me so hungary now. I’ma gonna now makka my sauce anda meataballs. 😋🤣

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

What's your address?

Expand full comment
Josie tavone's avatar

Email?

Expand full comment
Josie tavone's avatar

🤣🤣

Expand full comment
Josie tavone's avatar

A bit slow

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Kidding. I was thinking of your home address so I could stop by for a meatball sandwich.

Expand full comment
Josie tavone's avatar

😂 sure, anytime however I now live in Fl 🤣

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Overnight mail?

Expand full comment
Mary ann's avatar

I MAKE THE BEST MEATBALLS!! We are possive of what we cook. Love my gravy and meatballs

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

I'm in. Call anytime.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

If any left over, give me a call

Expand full comment
Mike Hirtle's avatar

I was fine when I started to read this. Now I have to go find something to eat. It won't be meatballs with French fries, however. Town Pizza, a few blocks from me, makes a pretty good meatball sub.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Ahhh, go for the meatball . . .

Expand full comment
Larry Goldberg's avatar

You got some balls to talk about meatballs, but I agree whole-heartedly that home made Meatballs are the best. In my family it was Matzah ball soup. The way my mother and grandmother made matzah balls cannot be improved by any commercial variety, and don't get me started on Gefilte fish.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Another guy who got smart with comfort foods. Nice

Expand full comment
Mary ann's avatar

I can remember my mother frying meatballs on a Sunday morning, then putting them in the “gravy”. Soo good!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

For sure, you sneaked one

Expand full comment
Elsie C Romano's avatar

Thanks for this!! Yes, the mopine into the collar of the shirt, check. The meatballs and gravy (YES! "gravy"!) in a soft torpedo roll with a crackling crust, check. Even Angelo's still around, check! MY mother's were the best (ask Jeff Solinger) and I make them often! I appreciate your explanation of "sangweech". I never knew the reason behind that, and now I do!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

I'm available.

Expand full comment
Elsie C Romano's avatar

I live in Michigan now, but I visit RI family when I can. You can get the recipe from Jeff!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Thanks, Elsie, I will.

Expand full comment
Natalie L. McKenna's avatar

Love that story. Everyone's gravy was the best, as was my Mom's, and I still make it the way she did!

Every grandpa's home made wine was the best. I remember the huge oak barrel in the cellar that held my grandpa's wine and the first thing he did when company came was to go down and turn the spigot on and came up with a bottle of his wine for them to drink. He grew his own grapes. Another thought came forward in my mind was the "a" added after the words. My brother and I listened to the radio broadcast of Jack Armstrong the all American Boy every day. My grandfather used to repeat the announcer with a chuckle "JACKA ARMESTRONGA THE ALL AMERICANA BOYA" So many wonderful memories.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

This is a beautiful note sharing cherished memories, Natalie. Thank you. I wish you would write your book.

Expand full comment
John C. Yuill's avatar

Now I'm hungry for a meetball sang-weech. Yum,yum. JC YUILL

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Well???

Expand full comment
Peter Voccio JR.'s avatar

Ed, of course your grandmothers' meatballs were the best, yes Eda-wood don't eat meatballs anywhere else. I detect much pride in her meatballs and gravy and the hours of love and labor that went into making them.

Yes, the meatball sandwich was a tradition especially for the Italians. My mother came from Italy, Salerno region 1915 at age 11 and raised five boys and we would take a few off the plate before they went into the gravy. Oh, so good.

Yes, the Welcome Cafe, and Mainelli's where I had a few with an ice-cold beer with a meatball sandwich. Aunt Emma's mention by one of your posters a step away from Mainelli's had a beautiful steak sandwich and custard pie that you would kill for. Aunt Emma's moved to Johnston in the 1960S and became the Little Inn.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Imagine The Welcome & Mainelli's . . . neighborhood places in walking distance serving first-class food. Both were iconic destinations. We were lucky to have them nearby.

So, you cheated and you ate Grandma's fried meatballs before they went into the gravy, they were that good. Devil!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Thanks, Peter. Ah, the meatball sandwich. Those Italian immigrants would never believe its popularity today. Do you remember 'Meatball Mike's' in Cranston?

A destination as The Welcome and Mainelli's.

Expand full comment
Carol Bonomo Albright's avatar

Ed,

You made me drool as you spoke of your meatball sandwich with mozzarella. Yummy.

Carol

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

I can't believe I once ordered it on a first date in high school,. 'You ordered that," she said. It was our last date. Maybe because she saw me drooling over the wrong thing.

Expand full comment
Edward Markward's avatar

Excellent! I shouldn't, however, read this at 7:30 in the morning...long time 'til dinner!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Funny. And give me a good reason why you can't have a meatball sandwich at 7:30 AM.

Expand full comment
Larry Goldberg's avatar

You've got some balls, my friend. Growing up in a Jewish family, the only balls that were served often were matzah balls floating in a sea of thin, but tasty, broth (Jewish "gravy"). However, I, too, enjoy a great meatball sandwich. When I feel energetic, I refrain from commercial sauces and go back to the basic cooking of a good "gravy" with fresh ingredients. That is an act of love that warms the stomach and nourishes the soul.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

You know, Larry, you nailed it. It is an act of love.

Expand full comment
Gino Pagnani's avatar

Ah yes !!! I swear I can smell the aroma of my Nonna's kitchen right now.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

An aroma that makes you what you are today!

Expand full comment
Scott Iannuccilli's avatar

This brings back similar memories. My grandmother would give me a meatball before Sunday dinner, but if my grandfather try to grab one from the stove she would yell at him...

Now, I wish I made a gravy this weekend.

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Grandma's meatballs. The key to your success, Eh?

Expand full comment
Joanne Lamora's avatar

Happy to see you are writing again, Dr. Ed! Your stories back memories of my childhood growing up in an Italian American household. My Grandparents immigrated from Amalfi (maternal) & Scafati (paternal).

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

Thank you, Joanne. I encourage you to write your story.

Expand full comment
Chris Iannuccilli's avatar

nothing better!

Expand full comment
Ed Iannuccilli's avatar

The key to success is The Meatball Sandwich.

Expand full comment