As an hyphenated American, while I don't stand for racial division, I appreciate cultural diversity. Seeing and experiencing different cultural traditions, perspectives, and history--of course food as part of this--is sociological discourse that I find fascinating. So when I stumbled across Red Sauce Studio and Italian American Emporium, having also visited Italy fairly recently, I stepped inside, curious to see what goods were held inside their clean, black-framed storefront with tricolor (green/white/red) neon logos.
Most of the store inside consists of what looks to be a former restaurant transformed into souvenir shop. It's decorated with lots of Italian and American flags, there's a colorful wall of pins and badges celebrating Italian America.
Several tables and shelves are filled with products from Italy, including some children's products, home decor and kitchen items, apparel and accessories. Some food souvenirs like pasta, olive oil and snacks. I browsed though didn't have any interaction with the single staff member; most people who came in looked to be tourists to Little Italy from out of town.
There's an enclosed single room podcast studio on one corner of the building, where "Italian American Podcast" is recorded. They focus on preserving and sharing Italian American heritage and culture.
For more info:
https://www.redsaucestudio.com/ read more