This sauce from Michael’s of Brooklyn was a standout.
Michael’s of Brooklyn is a three-generation family-owned joint that has operated out of the same location on the edge of Marine Park since 1964.
The pasta sauce is still cooked and packed at the source, and its label holds onto that mom-and-pop feeling with simple branding and multiple exclamation points at the end of its short ingredient list.
In this case, short was sweet. Right out of the uniquely squat jar, this sauce immediately lived up to every word of its fresh tomato-and-basil title.
The color popped, a gloriously vivid red even lighter than that of Primal Kitchen’s sauce.
The little bit of olive oil used in the sauce’s slow cooking was well incorporated and invisible to the eye, while big, green basil leaves leisurely floated in the hearty mix.
My eyes literally opened wider with joy as it hit my taste buds, with a real “wow” factor that only quality ingredients and careful cooking can provide.
This was super clean — bright and lively with a taste like softly warmed tomatoes picked at the peak of ripeness and chopped up with fresh, sweet basil. It trailed off with the faintest ghost of garlic.
The balance in this sauce was like a symphony — mild and nonacidic while still presenting flavor and character, simple but not plain as its ingredients took turns shining in each mouthful and sweet without being cloying.
I steeled myself for a letdown when I saw how much it watered down when heated, but it was still awesome, sweet in an uncontrived, natural way with a tomato flavor that sang even louder.
I still tasted the basil and parsley, but those herbs politely took a back seat to the fresh tomato flavor that brought me right back to a summer visit to Southern Italy.
Though the sauce didn’t coat the pasta too well and reintegrate as willingly as others, I didn’t mind. It was so good that I would happily have sipped it like soup and asked for more.