Wayne Chef Crafts Old World Italian Sauce

By Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta

Not many cooks get their start as a 5-year-old. But that’s how it began for Tommaso Antonino Aiello, owner/ CEO and chef for Aiello Italian Specialties. He fondly remembers making lasagna with his grandmother “Nonni” in the kitchen.

“I was always different,” said Aiello, “more mature for my age.” When he was a preteen, he began cooking without supervision. “I would bake a lot,” he said. “I always did them side by side, baking and cooking.” By the time he made it to high school, he was cooking for neighbors and his teachers. Word would get out, and people would order food from him.

“I love feeding people,” he said. “I love serving others.”

Aiello Italian Specialties was founded in 2016 by Aiello. It was to honor his family’s legacy by sharing the traditional tomato basil sauce. Aiello is an alumnus of Le Cordon Blue, Class of 2013.

In addition to the traditional tomato basil sauce, there are three other sauces: an arrabbiata, a marinara, and a roasted eggplant. There is also a porcini sauce coming soon. All products are clean and natural, without sugar, corn syrup, or any additives. “People comment how ‘homemade’ it is,”

Aiello said. “It’s so pure and so fresh. I think things that we’re putting in our bodies should be good. It is really done the natural way. The old school way. I’m an old soul. I’m more in tune with my grandparents’ generation.”

Aiello works alone in a commercial kitchen in Hawthorne to make the sauces, which are available in two different Whole Foods—Wayne and Woodcliff Lake—and a handful of Italian specialty shops. “It’s a pretty crowded market,” he said. “You have to make yourself stand out. Some people are used to getting one particular brand or they make their own. I like to highlight how fresh our sauce is. When you taste our marinara, it tastes right from the garden. Fresh carrot, garlic, onions…it’s all about layers. They simmer together. It’s done slowly and gradually. It takes a lot. It’s a delicate process.

Of all the sauces, Aiello tends to favor the tomato basil. “It’s the mother sauce,” he said. “I based all the others on that. That’s the one that’s been passed down, from southern Italy. It’s from Serrata, Reggio Calabria.”

Aiello has shipped his sauce all over the world, to friends he’s known for years and others he met online. “It’s been to Australia, Japan, and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “People who have never tasted it before are ordering a case here and there.”

Kids love the sauce too. “It’s amazing to see little kids freak out over it,” Aiello said.

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More than ever before, Aiello is happy to see artisan products that are done in a natural way with clean, fresh ingredients, and no additives. “We need a lot more of that,” he said. “People do care what they’re eating. Good quality, super delicious, and not a lot of sodium.”

Unfortunately, he also sees the trend towards the negative—mass produced brands that don’t have the artisan feel. “That’s something I’d like to see change,” he said.

When Aiello is looking at the competition, he notices that many brands have oil floating on the top. “When you see that, they’re not cooking sauce long enough,” he said. “Or they are adding too much oil. Our process is so different. We only use the best olive oil. I do not cut corners. I use the finest ingredients and that’s the way it will always be. I feel it’s a very heartfelt thing. My blood, sweat, and tears are in those jars.”

Aiello would love to open a little restaurant one day. “A nice cozy place with Italian and French food,” he said. “Having an environment that really promotes culture. In this country, there’s it’s not done enough.”

He would also like to get into olive oil production. “It’s not going to end in sauce,” he said. “I will create other items under the brand name.”

In his free time, Aiello, who is also an artist, is passionate about painting. He also likes to fix old furniture and sell it or give it away to people. And he loves to garden. “I’m a pretty simple guy,” he said.

To learn more about Aiello Italian Specialties, visit: https://www. aielloitalianspecialties.com/