A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from January 03, 2011
Stromboli

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Italian foods similar and often confused with the stromboli include the calzone, hippie roll/eppie roll and panzarotti/panzerotti.
 
 
Wikipedia: Stromboli (food)
Stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses, Italian meats such as salami, capicola and bresaola or vegetables. The dough is Italian bread dough.

Origins
Stromboli is reported to have originated in 1950 in Essington, Tinicum Township just outside of Philadelphia, at Romano’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, by Nazzareno Romano. There, William Schofield supposedly gave it the name, after the movie Stromboli, starring Ingrid Bergman. Other sources claim the stromboli was the brainchild of Mike Aquino, Sr., and that he created it in Spokane, Washington, in 1954.
 
Wikipedia: Stromboli (film)
Stromboli (also known as: Stromboli, terra di dio) is a 1950 Italian-American film directed by Roberto Rossellini and featuring Ingrid Bergman. The drama is considered a classic example of Italian neorealism.
 
Food Dictionary at Epicurious.com
stromboli
[strahm-BOH-lee]
A specialty of Philadelphia, a stromboli is a CALZONElike enclosed sandwich of cheese (usually MOZZARELLA) and PEPPERONI (or other meat) wrapped in pizza dough.
 
Romano’s Stromboli (Essington, PA)
April 11, 2007
Memories From 1950: A Mother Speaks
I was a student, living in Essington, PA in 1950…
 
I remember Romano’s as the “hoagie/pizza shop on the corner of Wanamaker Ave and the “Industrial Highway” in Essington, where everyone went for pizza and hoagies.
 
One day, when I was in the shop, there was Mr. Romano (Nat) and several local guys having a conversation about this baked sandwich Mr. Romano was making and was selling very well, but had no name. The conversation was centered around the fact that the sandwich should at least have a name.
 
What should they call it?
 
At the time there was a scandal in the news about the married actress Ingrid Bergman and her affair with Roberto Rossolini while making the moving “Stromboli” on the Isle of Stromboli, Italy. Bill Schofield said, “why don’t you call it a Stromboli.” So that’s what Nat (Nazzereno) Romano named the sandwich.
 
With the passage of time, almost 60 years, I have been telling and re-telling this story to more than a few raised eyebrows. By now there must be thousands of pseudo Stromboli’s. Seems you can sell anything and call it Stromboli.

But, I know the real deal, I was there.

Betty Lee McHale
Proud Mother of Pete Romano
 
15 March 1950, KEN (Brooklyn College), pg. 2, col. 4:
Yes Jahn’s—where the newest Ice Cream sensation “STROMBOLI” was created.
 
1957, Directory, The Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company (OH), pg. 591, col. 1 ad:
PASQUALE’S
(...)
STROMBOLI STEAK SANDWICHES
 
1959, Directory, The Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company (OH), pg. 598, col. 1:
PASQUALE’S
means
“Food Fun for Everyone”!
Pizza—Peewee, Medium, Large
Sandwiches—Stromboli Steak,
Hoggie, Tunabella, Fish
Meat Ball Hoggie
     
6 August 1963, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Recipes of the Day” by Julie Benell, sec. 3, pg. 2, cols. 3-4:
This is National Sandwich Month, an the winners of the National Restaurant Association Sandwich contest have been announced. I thought you might like to have some of the 10 winning recipes. The Wheat Flour Institute co-sponsored this contest. Mr. Carmen Tirella, executive dining room chef of the Martin-Marietta Corp., Orlando, Fla. won second place with this recipe:
 
OPEN FACE
STROMBOLI SANDWICH
18 1/2-inch slices French bread trimmed
18 1 1/2-ounce slices beef tenderloin (1 pound, 11 ounces)
Butter or margarine
Salt, white pepper
18 paper-thin slices Smithfield ham or salt cured Virginia ham (6 ounces)
18 1-ounce slices mozzarella cheese
9 pitted ripe olives, halved
18 browned artichoke hearts (recipe below)
6 lettuce leaves
18 small pickled sweet ted peppers
18 gherkin pickles
18 sprigs parsley
Toast bread on one side. Brown beef tenderloins in butter or margarine in hot skillet. Place tenderloins on toasted side of bread. Season with salt and pepper. Cover each tenderloin with one ham slice and one cheese slice. Broil until cheese softens and covers meat. Place one ripe olive half over each slive of softened cheese. Place three sandwiches on each serving plate. Garnish with Browned Artichoke Hearts, Broiled Tomato Half, lettuce leaf, red peppers, pickles and parsley sprigs. Makes six sandwiches.
 
15 October 1970, Iowa City (IA) Press-Citizen, pg. 10B ad:
TRY A STROMBOLI
An Italian Sausage Sandwich with Cheese, Onions, our own special sauce.
Served piping hot on a 15” French Roll.
Full Stromboli… 1.45
Half Stromboli… .79
(Little Caesars—ed.)
 
The Gonzaga Bulletin (Spokane, WA)
It’s a bigger, better burger
By Seth Lewkowitz, Food Critic
Published: Friday, September 19, 2003
Updated: Friday, October 30, 2009 23:10
Way out on Trent (6115 E. Trent to be exact), there is a little burger stand that most passers-by would drive right by. People wouldn’t give a second thought to Mike’s Burger Royale. Those people would be missing out on some of the best fast food in all of Spokane.
(...)
On a day in 1954, Mike Aquino Sr. had a brainstorm. He decided to invent a new sandwich. He took a combination of grilled French bread, Cappacollo Ham, melted Provolone, and a homemade Italian chili sauce and combined them to make an outstanding sandwich.
 
Gonzaga students discovered the sandwich, which was perfect for Friday nights after midnight (no meat on Friday). The sandwich still lacked a name, and the students (just as accepting of other cultures as students today) referred to it as (I’m not making this up) “That Wop Sandwich.”
 
Mike decided that the sandwich needed a name in order to shed its culturally insensitive title. At the time there was a film playing in Spokane which starred Ingrid Bergman. This film was named “Stromboli.”
 
Chowhound - General Chowhounding Topics
Now I’m Confused: What is a Stromboli and What is a Calzone?
I was listening to a radio talk show today and the topic of what ingridients are found in a stromboli versus what are found in a calzone was discussed. And during the discussion it was made clear by the hosts (via both personal experience and “wikipedia”) that a calzone is shaped like a half moon and is basically a pizza turned over while a stromboli is more tubular or loaf like and is filled with ricotto instead of mozzerella and no marinara. But where I was raised (Delaware County, PA) it was the exact opposite. So what’s the deal?
Thanks!
By Chinon00 on Dec 04, 2007 05:41PM
 
I had never even heard of a Stromboli until I moved to Central PA. In NYC and even upstate NY it was always all about the calzones. The ‘boli seems to be a Pennsylvania thing, as they are on every pizza shop menu around here but not so much in other areas. From what I gather, the calzone is moon-shaped with ricotta and the stromboli is more rectangular with no ricotta. I’m also told that strombolis are made with mustard. Mustard with marinara sauce? ew!
By xnumberoneson on Dec 04, 2007 06:53PM
 
New York (NY) Post
HOLY PEPPERONI
New York Post - New York, N.Y.
Author: JUSTIN MILLER; JASMIN K. WILLIAMS
Date: May 12, 2008
Start Page: 40
TODAY’S recipe bears a striking resemblance to stromboli (a k a the hippie roll), which was popular in New York’s Italian restaurants in the 1960s and ‘70s.
(...)
William Schofield supposedly named it after the 1950 movie Stromboli which featured Ingrid Bergman. Other reports have the dish created in Spokane, Wash. in 1954 and on its namesake island in Italy.
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark STROMBOLI
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 030. US 046. G & S: SANDWICH. FIRST USE: 19540701. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19540701
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 73323903
Filing Date 0000
Owner (APPLICANT) AQUINO, MICHAEL BURGER ROYAL INDIVIDUAL E. 6115 TRENT RD. SPOKANE WASHINGTON 99206
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date November 8, 1982

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityFood/Drink • Monday, January 03, 2011 • Permalink


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