Sam Lovera is too young to remember the smells coming from his Grandma Lovera’s kitchen but he’s heard enough about them—the rich tomato sauce with just a hint of anchovy and chunks of baccala, the polenta being stirred on the stove for hours with a big wooden paddle. Tender young rabbit from her own hutch, braised in red wine with tiny carrots and onions from the garden. However, he does remember his own Mama Madeline’s cooking— Big fluffy meatballs and heaping plates of spaghetti; ravioli stuffed with spinach and chicken. His dad’s special salad dressing. Sam and his own son, Gio, still get teary- eyed thinking about Zia Maria’s pies; her biscotti and pizelle. The preserved fruits and jars of jam. So, when the opportunity came along to expand Lovera’s, he immediately thought of sharing his own family’s treasured recipes, those carefully handwritten on plain white paper and on the backs of brown grocery bags, handed down from his grandparents. He recalls watching his mother, Madeline, and Aunt Mary pickling jar after jar of yellow “banana” peppers; big cloves of garlic in olive oil, “chow-chow” and okra.

Coming from a long line of buongustaioi , Sam has made it a priority to personally select the slender stalks of asparagus, the cloves of garlic, sun-ripened tomatoes, stuffed olives, pesto and sauces. He’s tasted the tomato sauce over and over until it was “just like Mama’s”. He’s tried the meat marinades and salad dressing til it was exactly the way his father had made it.

Travelling throughout Italy, he’s sniffed, pinched, tasted, sampled and tested product after product until he was satisfied that he could offer it to his customers back in Krebs and keep them coming back for more. Olives and olive oil from Tuscany, fat artichokes, jams and honey from Sicily; biscotti, dolci and, of course, rice from Piemonte. Paste and salame from everywhere. Chocolates and caramelle; anchiovies, aged balsamic vinegar—the list goes on and the market basket isn’t yet half-full…

And, not to forget, Lovera’s own sausage from Grandpa Lovera’s San Lorenzo recipe and the fresh Caciocavallo-style cheese from Lovera’s own plant. Sam has a hand in it all. He well remembers his dad Mike saying “We wouldn’t sell anything we don’t eat ourselves”.

So, when Sam Lovera says “from my family’s table to yours,” he really means it. He’s either picked it, made it or had it made to his personal specifications or selected it with his perfectly attuned tastebuds.

From one buongustaio to another, Sam Lovera says “Ben Venuto” to Lovera’s…