the oldest Italian-American restaurant in the country.
The Rubino family is about to celebrate
their 120th year of staying in business.
When you think about Italian-American food
in this country, they are the epicenter of that.
Today, I'm gonna cook with Nana Elaine and Elaine's sons,
Jimmy and Eddie.
-So, Marcus, we're gonna make our veal Parmesan.
-Yeah. And what type of veal are we talking about here?
-This is milk-fed veal. This is the top grade of veal.
-Who do you buy it from? Must've been --
I mean, it's all about relationships.
You guys have been buying from -- -We have Esposito's Meats
at the Italian Market. -Yeah.
-They've been doin' it God knows how long. -Yeah.
And the seasoning is important, right?
Otherwise, it's just a bunch of bread crumbs.
-Yes, yes, it is.
First, we flour it. -Mm-hmm.
-Both sides.
Then we're gonna dip it in egg,
put it in bread crumb, cover it real nice. -Nice.
-We want to put our gravy back there.
Pan-fry some of these bad boys in some olive oil.
-It's so interesting -- a dish like this,
like, the bread crumbs is so important
because, if you burn them, it doesn't taste good.
-Oh, God. There's -- Even though it's hot
and typically when oil's hot the food itself you're cooking in it
doesn't absorb the oil, it's still --
there's still flavor going into that bread crumb. -Yes.
-Although, we like to think, even if we didn't season it,
our gravy is so good, you know, it still would be good.
-When I think about gravy, right,
I think about a creamy sauce that my grandmother made
and I put it on everything --
on meatballs, on roasted chicken.
When you talk about gravy for an Italian-American
in South Philly, it's red sauce.
Beautiful. -A nice ladle of gravy.
-Yes. This is it.
-And that's it. That's our veal Parm.
-So now we're gonna make the lasagna, right? -Yeah.
So, what we're gonna do first is season the ricotta.
-Nice. -Eddie's yummin' over there.
-It's good. -We're gonna eat soon enough, bro.
-Yeah. Yeah. -I love ricot.
-Mix this really well. Okay. Okay.
So, we're gonna put a layer of gravy on the bottom.
Okay. And then we have our lasagna noodles, okay?
Now, what we're going to do is,
we're gonna go seven this way, four this way.
You meet 'em in the middle.
-Lasagna is from Naples.
All of these things that we think about
as Italian-American food get much larger
than they'll ever be in Italy.
It was part of that "Italian meeting American" culture.
So the lasagna got richer, with more mozz, more ricotta.
It was a way to show that our culture
is both big and rich and it matters.
And America loved it.
-We cook these noodles in salted water.
-It's important that you don't make the -- them too soft, also.
-Mm-hmm. Al dente. -Yeah.
-Al dent. -Everything's al dente.
And that's -- It's funny, 'cause when Ralph first started...
Ralph cooks most of our pasta dishes. -Yeah.
-That was one of the main things we said --
everything has to be al dente.
-Ralph Allen. That's Ralph Allen.
-That's the Ralph.
Finally, I find Ralph.
-[ Laughs ] -Finally!
My man. -The word "loyalty"? That's it, right there.
Yeah, yeah. -That's really, really good.
-I've been here 22 years.
-22 years. That's awesome. -22.
-Very honorable person. -No matter what's going on,
I haven't missed a day of work.
-He has not missed a day. -My man.
-This is no lie. No lie. -No. Wow.
And -- And how long have you been here?
-28 years. -28?
-I was helping out at the door, maître d'ing. -Yeah.
-And they asked me if I wanted to come in the kitchen.
And it's been -- I've been in the back ever since.
-That's amazing.
It gave me goose bumps, because --
Talk about a family affair,
but it's also the extended la famiglia.
The staff at Ralph's has been there for 20, 30 years.
They came in as kids, and they've never worked anywhere else.
There's something really, really beautiful about that.
And I think that says so much about the Rubinos,
how they take care of one another.
What's the best thing about Italian culture?
-They're traditional. That's what I love about it.
They don't change stuff.
That's what I love about Ralph's,
and that's why I stay.
-The funny thing is, in this --
in our family, if you want to alter just one little thing,
it's like going through Congress. -Yeah.
-It could take up to three or four years for it to pass.
-I'll wait.
Ryan, come over here for a second.
Uh, we're debating something as we speak.
-Listen, it's a bad idea. Don't do it.
Don't d-- Whatever it is, don't do it.
What's up, man? How are you? -It's good to meet you.
-Good, good, good. -All right.
-How does it feel to think about your great-great-grandfather
started something almost 120 years ago?
-When they came over, they worked before we opened up the restaurant,
and they saved money. -Yeah, yeah.
-So the big step was coming here.
And then, the even bigger step
was opening up their own restaurant.
-How long was it between coming here
and working and then opening the restaurant?
-Seven years, right? '93 to 1899?
-1893 to 2000. Seven years.
-To 1900. -1900.
-When you think about Ralph's 15, 20 years from now,
how do you envision to take into the future?
-It's always about, how do we continue this
and grow it with respect to where we've come from?
-That's great.
-And again, you don't want to pull too far in.
You just want to get it enough where it makes the curve there.
Bring these over. -You got to be Michelangelo.
-Mm-hmm. -So, it really is --
It's a work of art when you th-- It's like a puzzle.
A luzzle. A lasagna puzzle.
-[ Laughs ]
I can't wait. I want to eat.