Our grandmother, Antonina (Lena), grew up in Caporeale, Sicily, a small market town a short distance from Palermo. Using a coal-fired oven to make pizzas was commonplace in Sicily, where wood was too expensive to burn.

The intense heat from the coal ovens quickly cooked dough and charred meat without drying it out. We wanted to recreate the food of our heritage for our amici and neighbors. So we went straight to Lena’s Sicily for our oven, which was custom-built, and used her hand-written recipes to design our menu.

Lena’s sauces, pastas, parmigiana and cannolis have been recreated and perfected by our cousin, Chef Frank Timphony, with help from our amico, Chef Jasper Mirable. – Jack & Phil Rizzuto