Rao's marinara and meatballs

I made this a month or so ago, shortly after someone posted the link to the recipe and it turned out pretty good, not great, but pretty good. It was worth trying again but this time around I tweaked it a bit. I didn't use the San Marzano peeled tomatoes, paying 5 bucks a can for peeled tomatoes is pretty expensive so I tried some cheaper but still good cans of crushed tomatoes, plus the whole San Marzano 'maters leave some stringy remnants which I don't care for (I used Sun of Italy, a brand I like a lot, they have many good products). I also upped the amount of just about everything, onion, basil and garlic.I grow my own herbs and I think it makes a huge difference in flavor too. I also added about a tbs. of crushed red pepper at the same time I added the garlic to the oil. At the end I added about a tbs. of sugar to alleviate some of the acidity (I like to cook my sauce for several hours which makes 'mater sauce somewhat acidic, for those who don't know this).

I also went ahead and made some homemade pasta despite the problems I'm having with my feet. Homemade is sooo much better than dried so I bit the bullet, I figured I went to the trouble of making homemade sauce may as well do the pasta.

I had frozen some of the meatballs from my first try at this recipe. Next time I'll definitely tweak those as well, plain is an understatement. Well they were OK, just nothing special, can be tweaked for extra flavor for sure. Next time I'm gonna add some more parsley, basil and Italian spice mix (Sun of Italy of course), that should help them.

Did anyone else try the recipe, if so, how did it turn out?

Can't use enough garlic. There is some place advertised at the Paris Hotel, where the owner looks like a Jersey thug, but his meatballs are supposed to be some of the best.

Thugs tend to live in Jersey and make meatballs. It's what they do.

The thugs are bad. The meatballs are pretty good.

Here he is. Steve Martorano. I'm not sending the meatballs back.

[EDIT] I probably committed a huge sin. Mr. Martorano is from Philadelphia and not Jersey.

Lavo at Venetian might be the best meatball in Vegas. Massive and delicious.

In terms of making them at home, mixing things up is fun. You really can't go wrong.

Humbling story, I visited AJ's Fine Food butcher for my usual combination of veal, beef and pork. Butcher suggested I try their premixed meatloaf, that it consists of a similar ratio that I buy, but with 2-1-1 ratio leaning toward beef and seasoned. I gave it a try and put my own additions and these were maybe the best meatballs I've ever made.

Did someone say meatball?

His uncle is Raymond "Long John" Martorano, a notorious local organized-crime big shot whose February 2002 murder remains unsolved. He also has eateries in Lauderdale and Hollywood, Fla.

It Ain't Sauce, It's Gravy

I used to know a girl structured upon a similar ratio, and I'm not gonna say anything more than that.

2-1-2 is good

We go to this place close to home, Kitchen Consigliere, run by Angelo Lutz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Lutz

My first job was in a mafia associated restaurant.

I've had the meatballs at Martorano's. They are very good. A little pricey but very good. But I have to say, the polpette I had last month in Lombardy, Italy were the best.