I am a really lucky man,” Domenico Sacramone says. “I get to do what I love to do.” Domenico has owned Sac’s Place Pizza with his brother, Anthony, since 1989. Although two and a half decades have taught him more lessons than he can count, he still maintains a coolness that can calm guests and staff, born from a humility passed down from his mother. “We saw the changing times,” recalls Sacramone. “Pizza was going from the traditional pie to everybody buying bulk pizza sauce and bulk mozzarella— and suddenly pizza was starting to taste really generic to us. We decided to open a small pizza place that would eventually sell Italian food. This place was right on the corner of where we grew up.” Generations of family cooking had provided the recipes, and his childhood neighborhood had provided the location. But now, the family would have to make everything come together in an actual business. “Suddenly, we were faced with the challenges of moving from cooking small time to mass production,” explains Sacramone, “but we wanted to keep that same taste. We met so many people before we opened up. We met Tony Aiello, who was making fresh mozzarella, and so we went with his product. And it was a long process finding all the right components.” Domenico’s mom comes from a family of 11, and his father from a family of 12. “When we used to have parties,” recalls Domenico, “mom would have to cook for 50 people—so we had actually grown up learning. When we finally opened the restaurant, she couldn’t wait Dining with the Family at Sac’s Place Story + Images by Bradley Hawks to retire from Eagle Electric so she could help us with everything.” In the beginning, Sac’s Place was simply a pizzeria. “We expanded because I also wanted a restaurant where we could be more creative. I still make my own wine at home—and we wanted to be able to carry on more of our traditions.” Downstairs, they make all of their own pastas and stuffed ravioli based on the original recipes from his mother, Maddalena Sacramone. “When we were renovating, we built the brick oven so we could truly prepare pizza the old-fashioned way. It didn’t really start to put out the best pizza until it was about 5 years old, because it takes time and only gets better as it ages. Every kitchen is different, and it can only come to life by working in it.” Domenico’s reverence for time, tradition, and family are always apparent. “We took everything we had believed at home,” he reflects, “all of our family meals and celebrations, and brought it into the restaurant.” At the table next to us, his 91-yearold mother is being served a } Homemade Shrimp and Crab Ravioli Domenico Sacramone 43 I BOROMAG.COM I MARCH 2016 FOOD + DRINK
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