Ruffolo's International Foods, Kenosha, WI (ravioli pasties)

Ruffolo's International Foods
Home-Made Style Italian Specialities

Elsewhere I've had occasion to mention my friend, Pat, who passed away this past summer, and the fact that it was through him that I've gotten to know something of his home town, Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was Pat who introduced me to that outstanding Italian food institution of Kenosha, Tenuta's, about which I've previously posted here. In that post, I mentioned one of the few disappointments I had with Tenuta's was their house-made ravioli: I tried their jumbo cheese ravioli and found them lacking with regard to the pasta itself (excessively thick, tough edges), form (over-stuffed and thus prone to breakage) and filling (the for me odd presence of garlic in the cheese and an excessive use of salt).

My friend Pat was not inclined to hyperbole and kept statements of both criticism and praise always somewhat measured. He had said that Tenuta's ravioli weren't bad but not really to his taste and that he much preferred those made somewhere else in Kenosha, in a hole-in-the-wall place over toward the lake: those ravioli, the one's made at Ruffolo's were the old style ravioli of the town's Italian population. Well, I tried to visit Ruffolo's but the first time, with no exact address in hand, I had to poke around a bit before locating this thoroughly unobtrusive business, only then to find that they were closed for their usual weekly rest day. Then, last month I took the family on a little expedition northward through Lake County and on to Kenosha to visit the cemetary and Tenuta's and, hopefully, to check out the offerings and in particular the ravioli at Ruffolo's.

The shop is on the northwest corner of the intersection of 44th and Sheridan Road (the same one that starts in Chicago), in the northeastern part of Kenosha just past the heart of town and the harbour. The store's signage is minimalist and the building itself, lacking any shop-window with wares on display, hardly draws the attention of the casual passer-by. Furthermore, the name of the store, Ruffolo's International Foods, is really not very indicative of what one actually finds inside. While one reasonably might expect a small grocery or salumeria packed with imported goods, one finds instead a sort of take-out-heat-and-eat shop, that specialises in a rather limited number of mostly southern Italian and Italian-American favourites, which clearly are consumed with considerable regularity and in some reasonable quantities, such that this business has been able to survive and presumably thrive for many years.

So far as I can tell, there are just two basic categories of offerings at Ruffolo's: 'Heat and Serve Foods' and 'Frozen Uncooked Foods. Here are some examples of the heat and serve items:

1 dozen beef or cheese ravioli in sauce: $8.25
4 links of Italian sausage in sauce: $6.95
1 lb 'hot beef': $9.50 (=Chicago's 'Italian beef')
12 meatballs in 1 quart of sauce: $8.50
1 pasty: $3.50
1 quart Italian sauce: $3.50
1 quart meat sauce: $4.50
1 quart mostaccioli sauce $4.50 [??]

These are the frozen uncooked foods they have on hand:

2 dozen beef or cheese ravioli (without sauce): $11.00
1 (9x13)pan of lasagna: $23.00
1 serving lasagna: $3.95
1 lb gnocchi: $3.50
1 lb noodles: $2.50

We haven't tried any of the 'heat and serve' items but purchased a bag of the meat ravioli, a bag of the cheese ravioli and four links of their home-made Italian sausage, all frozen and all without sauce. Here are some comments on these items:

• sausage: The sausage is very good basic Italian style (with fennel) but with an unusual texture. They double grind the meat so that the final texture is far smoother than is normal. Each link looks to me to be about a quarter of a pound.

• ravioli, dough: The ravioli are clearly hand made and the dough is very nicely done. The shape is actually that of a mezzaluna (half circle) and the crimping of the edges shows unmistakeably the human touch.

• ravioli, cheese filling: As was the case with Tenuta's cheese ravioli, Ruffolo's include garlic flavouring in the filling, which I find quite unusual and not exactly welcome. However, I think the Ruffolo's version is a little more circumspect in this respect and, armed with this knowledge, one can dress these ravioli taking this aspect of the filling into account. I also found the filling slightly saltier than I make it when I make my own ravioli but again, if one is aware of this quality of Ruffolo's product, one can adjust...

• ravioli, meat filling: The meat ravioli were the first of Ruffolo's products I made and so I salted the water and the sauce as I normally would. Unfortunately, it turns out that the folks at Ruffolo's, much like those at Tenuta's, salt their ravioli fillings quite substantially and to my mind excessively: Indeed, Kenosha, or at least Chenoscia, seems to constitute its own Kulturprovinz with regard to its development of Italian or Italian-American food. Now, aside from the surprising saltiness, let me say that these are excellent ravioli: the stuffing is a combination of spinach and ground beef which is –– salting aside –– nicely seasoned. I strongly recommend that you try these meat ravioli and also the cheese ravioli BUT, do as I did when I made the cheese ravioli and reduce the amount of salt you use in the cooking water drastically and be circumspect in your salting of whatever condiment you use to dress the pasta.

All in all, I recommend Ruffolo's ravioli highly and look forward to trying some of their other products in the future. The prices are certainly no great bargains but the genuinely home-made touch seems to mitigate any sense I have of being overcharged. But also bear in mind this apparent tradition in Chenoscia of salting things liberally.

Many thanks to my old friend Pat, whom many missed a great deal this holiday season.

Antonius

Ruffolo's International Foods
4420 Sheridan Road
Kenosha, WI 53140
262-658-FOOD (3663)

Hours:
Tu. through Fri. 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat. 9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Sun. & Mon. closed

Post site-move font problems fixed.

When you pass Ruffolo's International Foods in Kenosha, there is a sign, "Open to the Public." Suspecting it was a wholesaler who allows mere mortals to shop there, I stopped in to check it out. It turns out this is a retail operation which according to the counter girl everyone assumes is wholesale. The exterior looks like a business rather than a retail shop with no picture window to allow you to orient yourself.

Ruffolo's sells a limited quantity of foods to heat and serve as well as frozen uncooked foods made on the premises. Their offerings are dominantly Italian from raviolis, lasagna, gnocchi, noodles, Italian sausage, various pasta sauces and meatballs. Straddling into American regional favorites of hot beef in gravy, sliced turkey in gravy and pasties.



Pasties was the really unexpected menu item and definitely a very regional speciality. When I inquired about the pastry, I was advised they use no lard. Instead they used a mixture of butter and Crisco for a "very flaky crust." The filling is ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, rutabaga and seasonings.



The pastie was obviously handmade and done with some skill. Especially evident by how thin the crust was rolled out and how it was pinched together at the edges. This pastie cost $3.95, which was inserted into a plastic bag with a twist tie with no other labeling. The heating instructions, 350 F for 35 minutes, was on the take-out menu.

We shared this pastie for lunch the other day, which we found to be seasoned with an experienced hand. The crust was flaky and buttery tasting as promised. The care put into this pastie bodes well for Ruffolo's other offerings.

Ruffolo's International Foods
4420 Sheridan Road
Kenosha, WI 53140
262-658-FOOD (3663)

Did you top it with ketchup or gravy?

It looks like a pretty good pasty, but it actually looks overseasoned. Too much greenery. Is that just appearances, or was it particularly herbal?

Hi,

My flash photo picture will give a truer sense of the pastie's construction:



Definitely not an overwhelming herbal preparation. No heavy gummy gravy inside acting as a filler. I didn't use ketchup or gravy because it never occured to me.

Regards,

Cathy,

We haven't tried the pasties but we have tried several of the Italian specialities. We've been meaning to get back for a visit to Kenosha and we'll definitely go back to Ruffolo's. (I hope they've toned down the salt in the ravioli though.)

The pasties look quite good. Thanks for calling our attention to those and to bringing Ruffolo's back to the fore...



Antonius

Edited to fit in better with the merge of the two Ruffolo's threads.

gleam wrote:Did you top it with ketchup or gravy?

No, no. The important question is whether it had rutabaga or not.

And are those potatoes diced or food processed?

And is the meat hamburger consistency or more coarsely ground?


I'll have to take a photo of a good one one of these days for comparison purposes, though I don't doubt that this one was fine.

Ann Fisher wrote:
No, no. The important question is whether it had rutabaga or not.

And are those potatoes diced or food processed?

And is the meat hamburger consistency or more coarsely ground?


I'll have to take a photo of a good one one of these days for comparison purposes, though I don't doubt that this one was fine.

Rutabaga was definitely present.

Potatoes diced.

Coarsely ground.

I made pasties just over a year ago for my pie talk, while not quite a pretty as Ruffolo's. They were a first time effort with beef lard in the crust.



The filling was potatoes, onions, cubed tri-tip beef and either turnips or rutabaga ... I just don't remember.



I guess every Cornish and Finnish miner probably rolled in his grave over the use of tri-tip!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Rutabaga was definitely present.

Potatoes diced.

Coarsely ground.

Well, I gotta admit that those are all the right answers But yours looks better

Today's lunch included frozen gnocchi and mostacolli sauce from Ruffolo's:



It was as good as it looks.

Regards,

You just ate that because it looks like bugs.