Growing up, Sundays meant one thing for Joe Isidori: family, food, and ritual. The morning began with the hiss of garlic hitting olive oil, meatballs sizzling in a cast-iron pan, and tomatoes simmering for hours, filling every corner of the house with a scent that didn’t just announce dinner, it wrapped the whole family in warmth and memory. But Sunday Gravy preparation started long before Sunday.
For Joe, these aren’t just memories. They’re his origin story, the heart of Arthur & Sons, where old school New York Italian cooking isn’t just preserved, it’s celebrated.
“Sunday Gravy is everything but the food,” he told me. “It’s family coming together. It’s memories of people who are no longer with us. It’s this feeling that gets locked into your brain forever.”
Growing Up in Nonna’s Kitchen
Joe grew up in a three-family house in Yonkers where his grandmother, a retired professional chef, had a full commercial kitchen in the basement. There were no babysitters or nannies. There was Nonna. And she never stopped cooking.
“We’d make gnocchi, pici, everything by hand,” Joe recalls. “All week long, she was prepping for Sunday.”
He’d tag along as she drove her jade-green Lincoln Continental to the butcher, the salumeria, and the local grocer. On Sundays, the house would fill with 20, 30, sometimes 40 people, with folding tables lining the hallways. Today, he says, “we’re lucky if we get eight or nine people. But the memories…they stay with you forever.”
The Power of a Pot of Gravy
When Joe talks about his Sunday Gravy, he talks about it the way someone talks about a person they love.
“I can use my pot of gravy to show love. I bring gravy to someone to show them I really care about them, to impress someone I just met, to bring people together in celebration or in grieving. There’s power in a pot of gravy.”
That’s the magic he wanted to bring into his restaurants, not just the flavor of good food, but feeling and nostalgia. “Arthur & Sons is for everybody,” he said. “We bring everyone to the table. That’s the goal.”
And he really means everybody. Part of his superpower, he tells me, is seeing his own eight-year-old son instinctively understand the importance of sitting at the table with family, a reminder that these rituals are innate, not taught.
What Makes a True Old School Sunday Gravy
Joe’s approach is rooted in tradition, technique, and the Bronx neighborhood his family came from:
Some of his essentials:
- Ingredient sourcing is sacred. He works with Teitel Brothers, a grocery and butcher on Arthur Avenue he swears by that is steeped in the same old-school sensibilities he grew up with. “It brings a piece of my childhood into the restaurant.” Everything comes from Arthur Avenue, ensuring authenticity, quality, and that unmistakable Italian-American soul.
- No sugar. “Let the sauce balance itself…let the ingredients do the work.”
- Hyper-regional identity. “In Italy, food is regional. Same in New York. New York Italian food is its own thing. That’s what we cook.”
Sunday's meal takes an enormous amount of thought and preparation:
From Saturday’s marathon of trips to 3-4 specialty shops, to the next morning, when he begins searing meatballs and building the sauce. He describes the hours spent cooking and preparing, beginning with antipasto (sourced artichokes, olives, cheeses, meats, sesame bread) and finally the main event, which is followed by dessert including cannoli, rainbow cookies, and sambuca. It’s labor, yes, but also devotion.
Cooking with Memory and Mindfulness
When asked about the emotional side of cooking this way, Joe doesn’t hesitate.
“Of course. This is how you connect with people, with your family, with your history.”
The long simmering, stirring, and waiting become a meditative ritual, a way of saying: I care enough to spend six hours making something from scratch.
Advice for Timid At Home Cooks
This was my favorite part of the conversation. “Don’t be fancy. Knock it off. Nobody cares. It’s nostalgia. It’s feeling. It’s memories.” Perfection doesn’t matter. Heart does. And maybe, a really good meatball.
Legacy, Heart, and What Matters Most
Joe’s career includes a Michelin star and a successful restaurant empire, yet he’s quick to say:
“The Michelin star was the best and worst thing that happened to me. It is the best because I am included in a world-class group of chefs. Worst because people get intimidated and sometimes turned away. I want them to feel like they’re in my grandmother’s basement.”
That’s the energy of Arthur & Sons: accessible, welcoming, warm, nostalgic, familiar. “Arthur & Sons is the culmination of more than three generations of NYC chefs and restaurants. That’s what it’s about.”
Keeping Tradition Alive
What Joe preserves is more than a dish. It’s a way of living. A reminder that the things that matter often take time: good ingredients, patience, family, rituals, showing up for one another.
Sunday Gravy isn’t just food, it’s a love language. One that continues to bring people to the table, long after the pot is empty.
Check out Chef Joe Isidori's Family Style Meatballs with Ricotta recipe here.
