Look for updated news about Nello’s, now Nellino’s, here.
Last week, we sat down to talk with Neal McTighe of Nello’s Sauce. Weaver Street Market has stocked Nello’s since Neal first started making it in his Chapel Hill kitchen in 2011. We were the first store to give it a chance, which Neal with never forget. Since then, production has twice moved to a larger facility, but the process remains the same: fresh ripe tomatoes are cooked with extra virgin olive oil, basil, spices, and other simple ingredients to produce a sauce that tastes homemade. “One of the things I hear quite frequently is that Nello’s doesn’t taste like a jarred tomato sauce,” Neal says.
The recipe Neal uses originated with his great-grandmother in southern Italy. He recalls hovering in her kitchen as a boy while she cooked. Neal studied the language and lived for three years in Italy. Part of his motivation for starting Nello’s was a desire to bottle a bit of Italy and share it with people.
But when I ask what’s his favorite pasta shape, he’s stumped. “That’s a very hard question,” he says. “How about the best one for Nello’s?” He recommends a pasta for each sauce he makes: for the Lavender Pomodoro, fresh, locally made ravioli; for the Marinara, spaghetti or penne; and for the Hot Pepper, linguine with shrimp.
What’s in store for Nello’s? Nello’s has had a partnership with a local food bank that Neal looks forward to continuing; this month for the first time, Nello’s is donating a whole pallet of Nello’s Sauce. This year has also been the pilot year of a plan to produce a sauce with local tomatoes each summer. We hope to see the new sauce in our stores next year.