Event volunteers, judges, and hungry gravy-seekers filled an East Passyunk Crossing cafeteria to sample nostalgia.
Photos by Tina Garceau
Eight macaroni dishes sit on catering flames in the cafeteria of Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., with corresponding sticker-numbered cups, #1 to #8. With baskets of bread, bowls of grated cheese, and pads of butter at every red-and-white checkered table-clothed folding table, the 2nd Annual East Passyunk Crossing Civic (EPX) Association’s Italian Red Gravy Cook-Off has got to be one of the most bang-for-your-buck fundraisers in South Philly.
And true to neighborhood roots, too, the fundraiser took place on Sunday afternoon – Sunday gravy time. Perhaps several decades ago, walking from a café on East Passyunk Avenue to the Catholic high school’s cafeteria, one would’ve smelled garlic sizzling, tomatoes simmering, and proteins browning wafting from any number of South Philly homes. The neighborhood’s a little less uniformly Italian now, but that doesn’t negate the delicious history that endures.
Association events chair Leon Malloy, who lives on the northeastern edge of the civic’s boundaries (Sixth to Broad streets and Tasker Street to Snyder Avenue) at Sixth and Morris streets, told SPR that when he moved to his block nearly six years ago, he got his first introduction to “gravy.”
“My next-door neighbor was a very old Italian lady that lived with her mother. She said ‘So nice to have you in the neighborhood – we’ll have to have you over for some gravy,’” he remembers.
Turkey and stuffing came to mind, he imagined brown gravies in boats, but it dawned on him in time: “I had no idea what gravy was and living in South Philadelphia, you have to know what it is. People say you used to walk down the street and have the smell of red gravy in the air,” Malloy, primarily of Irish heritage, but his great grandmother was Italian, grew up in the Italian Market, and was named Philomena after Philadelphia, says. “Italian food was comfort food growing up.”
Good thing because Malloy confesses that, in organizing the Cook-Off logistics, he’s been “eating, dreaming, and sleeping red gravy for about a month.”
Big judges were on hand to deliver a Judges’ Choice: 6ABC’s Alicia Vitarelli; 1st District City Councilman Mark Squilla; event sponsor and gravy expert Dr. Valentino Ciullo; Maria di Marco, the owner of Mamma Maria Ristorante Italiano, 1637 E. Passyunk Ave.; and our own SPR editor, Joseph Myers. They gave their honor to Gravy #7 – Vanessa Crupi, whose mother let out a joyful “Oh, my God” when EXP Civic co-chair Joseph F. Marino announced the winners. A popular vote, determined by event attendees, went to Gravy #6 – Gina Telymonde.
Crupi was glowingly proud of her victory, and the Collingswood, N.J. resident joked that her family will never be allowed to forget – she won a very specific Gravy Cook-Off – a pretty impressive one at that.
“They’re not going to hear the end of it now that I’ve won a gravy cook-off in South Philly. It’s going out in the Christmas newsletter for the next 20 years,” Crupi said. Her mother chimed in, the source for her dedication to the perfect sauce, saying “And in mine, too.”
What’s the difference between sauce and gravy?
“The difference between gravy and sauce is where you’re from, that’s the only thing,” Bob Santoro said with a smile.
He and his wife Marsha, residents of the 1300 block of Mifflin Street and soon-to-be-owners of Vin Café, 1841 E. Passyunk Ave., were sponsors of the event, accepting special permission to pour wine on-site from Neumann-Goretti because they donated all of the libations.
“My wife makes an incredible gravy, and she’s Jewish,” he said and laughed. He added a good gravy’s got to have meatballs of beef, veal, and pork, plus sausage with fennel in it, and a “nice piece of pork with bone.” His wife said “every chef has a secret ingredient,” and she confessed “my gravy, I put carrots in it, but a traditional gravy has to have meat but it doesn’t have to be meatballs.”
The popular vote winner, Ms. Telymonde, resides at 22nd and Spruce streets but grew up in Central New Jersey. She participated to support friends in the neighborhood and quietly divulged no secrets about her gravy, other than to say “my mom’s recipe – low and slow.” Bob Santoro said Sunday Gravy was every Sunday at 1 p.m. Telymonde’s family ate at 2 p.m., and the sauce was steady while the vessel changed (ziti, lasagna, etc.).
When asked if the vegetarian gravies felt official, she said “that’s not gravy.”
Volunteer Ellen Kita had her mom and aunt come out, Janet Kita from King of Prussia and Mary Ellen Grady from Fairmount, and they had grown up in Grays Ferry at 29th and Tasker streets. They referred to their pocket of Philly as “Little Italy.” Janet said “I can remember people in [our neighborhood] calling it gravy; you could smell it from the street.”
The official judge-chosen gravy, Mrs. Crupi’s, featured lamb ragu and her inspiration story is quite charming.
“My husband and I moved to Miami [, Florida] for a few years, and I missed my mom’s gravy. I kept trying to make her gravy, and it wasn’t happening. Italian mothers don’t have recipes,” she joked. The ingredients, she said, can be cheap: lamb necks, “bones that are going to flavor it.” She lets the lamb “take the lead” and does so by letting the gravy sit in the fridge for a day or two “because the lamb is going to really permeate it,” she explains.
How did the official winner feel about a meatless gravy?
“Sauce is if you’re doing a 20-minute marinara sauce,” she said.
Telymonde’s sentiment, about what Sunday Gravy did for her family, could be attached to the Civic’s intentions with the fund-raiser: “It was a lot of fun, my family would all come over, and we’d all eat together – it was bonding time.”
Marino effectively emceed the event and thanked judges, sponsors (including di Marco’s establishment, who provided the “macaroni”) and attendees. He emphasized that this was a “pleasant afternoon in the neighborhood,” an afternoon of FUNraising (emphasis on the fun). Asked about the success of the event, he lovingly referenced the mob, famous lovers of a good gravy.
“It’s due to the incredible hard work of our events committee and his team,” he said, referring to Malloy. “If you can trust your lieutenants, then you’ll succeed.”
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Event volunteers, judges, and hungry gravy-seekers filled an East Passyunk Crossing cafeteria to sample nostalgia.
Photos by Tina Garceau
Event volunteers, judges, and hungry gravy-seekers filled an East Passyunk Crossing cafeteria to sample nostalgia.
Photos by Tina Garceau
Event volunteers, judges, and hungry gravy-seekers filled an East Passyunk Crossing cafeteria to sample nostalgia.
Photos by Tina Garceau
Event volunteers, judges, and hungry gravy-seekers filled an East Passyunk Crossing cafeteria to sample nostalgia.
Photos by Tina Garceau
