Convito has a line of some twenty sauces developed by owner Nancy Brussat Barocci in Milan with her then partner, Wanda Bottino. Each one has a story. The sauces we will be featuring for our curbside/carryout menu will be our most popular, our most comforting – like classic Bolognese, a rich, robust meat and Tomato Basil, great on anything from pasta to chicken.

The recipe for our very healthy, very popular market salad Vegetale Fresca came to us quite by accident. Vegetale Fresca is a delicious, crunchy vegetable salad invented by me in 1980 shortly after we opened our first Convito. I literally invented it out of what was left in the refrigerator on the day that Violet Caldarelli (our first chef) nagged me to make certain that I used the vegetables in the refrigerator before they lost their nutrients and were no longer fresh. The recipe for salad that is still one of the most popular market items today is made from exactly what I found in the fridge that very day – peapods, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions with an oregano vinaigrette.