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LiDestri Food and Drink Announces the Sale of the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce Brand to Sugo Brands, LLC
FAIRPORT, NY, dec. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — LiDestri Food and Drink, a company that specializes in contract manufacturing of food and beverage products for the consumer-packaged goods industry, announced the sale of the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand to Sugo Brands, LLC.
Sugo Brands, LLC is a newly formed consumer-packaged goods company looking to build on the long and successful history of the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand business, which was started in 1941 by Francesco Rinaldi himself. Based on a family recipe handed down for generations, the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce classic spice blend has remained unchanged since 1971. The iconic label, distinguishing taste, and superior quality of the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand make it a family favorite for those who have loved and consumed the sauce over the decades and for younger consumers looking for healthy, nutritious, and affordable meal options for their families.
Sugo Brands, LLC will bring the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand a renewed focus on the long-standing traditions of the brand while delivering innovation to meet the preferences and attributes of today’s consumers. Through expanded marketing initiatives, Sugo Brands looks to grow the brand with the valued customers loyal to the Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand while expanding distribution in key markets and attracting new and returning consumers to the brand. The Francesco Rinaldi Sauce brand will continue to be manufactured by LiDestri Food and Drink, maintaining the high-quality and exquisite taste that consumers expect.
About LiDestri Food and Beverage
LiDestri is a premier private label and contract manufacturer of food and beverages supplying over 50 million cases of products each year. LiDestri’s core competencies include producing aseptically filled, hot filled, cold filled, retorted, and HPP products in glass and plastic containers for retail and food service customers. Established 48 years ago, LiDestri now operates four SQF, level-3- certified, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Fairport, NY; Rochester, New York; Fresno, CA; and Pennsauken, NJ.
About Sugo Brands, LLC
Established in 2022, Sugo Brands, LLC is a privately held, consumer-packaged goods company focused on brands rich in history with legacies of providing healthy, nutritious, and affordable products for consumers. With decades of experience in consumer-packaged goods manufacturing, sales and distribution, Sugo Brands strives to bring high-quality products to customers and consumers with passion and integrity, all in service of being good corporate citizens.
Media Contact:
Dana Richards
[email protected]
(630) 539-3100
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lidestri-food-and-drink-announces-the-sale-of-the-francesco-rinaldi-sauce-brand-to-sugo-brands- llc-301695178. html
SOURCE Sugo Brands, LLC
Pastificio d’Oro is your favorite pasta cook’s favorite pasta restaurant
Editor’s note: This week and next, we’re counting down our favorite new Portland restaurants of 2022, starting with our No. 10: Pastificio d’Oro, a pint-sized St Johns neighborhood pasta restaurant where almost everything is made from scratch.
Casting back to summer, some of my fondest memories involve sitting with friends on the wobbly picnic tables outside this St. John’s pasta spot, the sun’s last rays disappearing behind The Wishing Well’s neon palm tree just down the street.
At the time, Pastificio d’Oro was still a promising pop-up at Gracie’s Apizza. On Mondays and Tuesdays, former Jacqueline chef Chase Dopson would make the entire pasta by hand while painter Maggie Irwin took orders, poured wine and tossed farm-fresh salads with her signature honey-sweet dressing.
The restaurant, which took over the pizzeria space full time last month, remains a true Mom-and-Pop, the only one where, according to Dopson, everything but the bread, wine, Parm and charcuterie are made from scratch.
“Yeah, but I do slice that,” Irwin points out.
Along with Gracie’s, it’s also the newest restaurant bringing a little heat to St. Johns, a North Portland neighborhood where the dive bars might be better known than the restaurants.
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But what makes Pastificio d’Oro unique is Dopson’s commitment to making his pasta entirely by hand. That means mixing up balls of golden dough by hand, then rolling each into a billowing sheet using a mattarello, or a long wooden rolling pin. It’s a time-intensive method more familiar to Italian nonnas than typical American restaurants, where even the fresh pasta is typically flattened by machine.
Dopson started making pasta after he was laid off at the start of the pandemic, reading cookbooks, watching videos and buying an imported mattarello from Evan Funke, the pasta evangelist whose new Los Angeles restaurant Mother Wolf is almost as hard to get into as Portland’s Kann . Like many chefs, he was drawn to the pastas of the Emilia-Romagna region.
“It’s so diverse for such a small region, but it’s also so luxurious,” Dopson says. “It’s rustic but rich, gluttonous but so fun to eat. Think of a lasagna Bolognese: It’s so over the top but just so delicious.”
After initially launching a meal kit service at Jacqueline, Dopson’s pasta caught the eye of Craig Melillo, the owner of Gracie’s Apizza, where Irwin had previously worked. In 2021, Melillo reached out to the couple about using the pizzeria on Monday nights, when he was typically closed. The first Pastificio d’Oro’s pop-up took place that September.
As The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported, Gracie’s Apizza is in the process of moving to a new location with room for a larger oven just a few blocks east. With construction underway, the two businesses have switched roles: Pastificio d’Oro now operates on weekend nights, Gracie’s Apizza pops up on some Mondays and Tuesdays.
Visit from Thursday to Sunday now, and you’ll find Dopson’s pastas — some squash-stuffed tortelli, perhaps, or a tagliatelle al ragu — bowls of that zippy salad and plates of aged prosciutto. A rustic tart or sugar-dusted cake rounds out a menu kept blessedly small.
Like Funke, Dopson sometimes cooks his pasta a few seconds short of al dente, a level of doneness some will prefer more than others. (The late Los Angeles Times critic Jonathan Gold found Funke’s style distracting enough to leave his blockbuster Santa Monica restaurant, Felix, off his last restaurant guide; I also like a more supple texture, but didn’t find it disqualifying here or at Felix. )
And the pleasures of Pastificio d’Oro go beyond pasta. There’s a small wine list, plus good Negronis and other cocktails courtesy of The Garrison, the bar next door. You might find platters of puffy Italian frybread served with a pear-plum mostarda. And though the sun dips below the horizon before Pastificio d’Oro opens these days, it remains a fantastic place to meet friends for dinner, perhaps followed by a movie at the St. Johns Twin across the street.
What to order: With a group of two or more, it would be borderline irresponsible not to order the whole menu.
Details: After launching as a Monday pop-up, Pastificio d’Oro switched to Thursday-Sunday dinner hours in November; 8737 N. Lombard St.; doropdx.com
Read more: Follow along with our guide to Portland’s best new restaurants of 2022
—Michael Russell; [email protected]; @tdmrussell
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Where to Eat and Drink at Rockefeller Center
Pebble Bar | Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
Pebble Bar | Photo by Cole Saladino for Thrillist
Rockefeller Center is waving goodbye to its reputation as a tourist-only attraction thanks to a million-dollar revitalization project currently underway at the iconic Midtown destination. A new wave of head-turning and big-name–backed eateries and bars is turning The Rock into the city’s latest culinary and nightlife destination.
From highly acclaimed debuts like NARO, by the founders of trailblazing eateries Atoboy and Atomix, and the swanky Pebble Bar to this week’s opening of chef Greg Baxtrom’s latest venture called Five Acres, there are plenty of spots that have New Yorkers reconsidering their stance on these Manhattan blocks.
So if you’re among the crowds who will be dropping by this season to catch a glimpse of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree or ice skate at The Rink at Rockefeller Center, we’ve got you covered with some of the coolest spots to eat and drink at Rockefeller Center in NYC right now.
Recent restaurant openings at Rockefeller Center
Chef Greg Baxtrom showcases his knowledge of fine dining and hyper-seasonal fare with his first Manhattan venture. Named for his family’s five-acre farm outside of Chicago, Five Acres highlights recipes and techniques Baxtrom learned while working at famous restaurants across the country, such as Paragraph in Chicago and Per Se in NYC. At the 65-seat, greenery-covered eatery, locally sourced ingredients are at the center of the all-day menu; Highlights include Delicata Squash Vase (whipped ricotta, prosciutto chips) and Crab Cake (bruleed bone marrow aioli), as well as larger plates like Grilled Guinea Hen (saltify hazelnut tart, juniper). On the beverage program, globally sourced wines are joined by house cocktails like the Vale of Cashmere (reposado, pear brandy, egg white).
Imaginative takes on American comfort classics are the specialty for NYC-native and chef Homer Murray. For his latest project, Murray launches a Manhattan counterpart to his popular Brooklyn-based 21 Greenpoint. Alongside guest favorites like the Cheeseburger, location exclusive plates include the Crunchy Broccoli Salad (apple, cajun pecans) and Open Faced Crab Toast (mayo, lemon, parsley). Drinks-wise there’s specialty cocktails like Homer’s Day Off (tequila, hibiscus), as well as a selection of beer and wine.
The team behind the popular downtown Italian restaurant King, recently debuted a spacious, 140-seat sibling dubbed Jupiter. Helmed by partners Clare de Boer, Jess Shadbolt, and Annie Shi, as well as executive chef Gaz Herbert (River Cafe in London), the food program features a large all-day menu of regional Italian classics like Beef Sott’olio (chargrilled beef filet, horseradish) and Risotto Di Mare (saffron, whole langoustine, squid), as well as pasta signatures such as Tagliarini al Pomodoro (tomato, marjoram, ricotta). Pair them with an extensive list of predominantly Italian wines as well as house cocktails like the Jupiter Vesper (gin, vodka, fig leaf). Guests can sit within the dining room or opt for a more casual experience at the 12-seater, red-marble bar.
This elegant new French brasserie is from the team behind Tribeca’s highly-lauded Frenchette. At Le Rock, the culinary program is helmed by chef Walker Stern’s (Dover) and offers guests a selection of weekly specials along with permanent Touts Le Temps menu items in a spacious 130-seat eatery. Among the highlights are Steak Haché and Escargots plus elaborate desserts like the Plateau de Dessert (confection stand filled with seasonal treats).
Creative takes on traditional Korean cuisine reign supreme at NARO. Led by the trailblazing team behind eateries Atoboy and Atomix and named after Korea’s first space launch, NARO sheds a contemporary spotlight on hansik (customary Korean food), made using hyper-seasonal ingredients. Led by chef Nate Kuester (Cafe Boulud, BAPBAP), the current multi-course tasting menu features plates like Pyeonyuk (beef shank, tomato, caviar) and King Crab Bibimbap (rice, soybean paste stew, pickled bamboo), alongside desserts like Pear Pavlova (blood orange coulis, pear hibiscus sorbet). For plant-forward diners, a vegetarian tasting menu is also available. Currently, the dining room is reservation only, but the bar is open for walk-ins with an a la carte program.
Since opening last year, this elevated restaurant/bar has commanded a steady fan base for its classic Italian plates and expert cocktails. Led by chef Ignacio Mattos (Estela, Altro Paradiso), the all-day menu offers from in-house baked breads and croissants to paninis and pastas. Standout dishes include house made Ricotta, Crostini di Fegato (liver pâté), and Salsiccia (pork sausage, turnips). Pair plates with a selection of spritzes, the house Rockefeller Martini, or wine.