Spaghetti sauce has been a serious thing in Boulder County since the first Italians settled here, many of them around Louisville. That’s where one of the first Italian eateries, the Blue Parrot, opened in 1919.
Few of us are neutral when it comes to the red sauce that covers our rigatoni, spaghetti or meatballs.
From the start, cooks took home quarts of restaurant tomato “gravy,” especially when it was the sauce everyone in the family loved. Today, some local Italian eateries and markets are bottling their sauces to compete for attention on the wall of glass jar options in supermarket pasta aisles.
Which ones taste the best?
We sourced bottles of Pasta Jay’s Classic Marinara, Blue Parrot Original Spaghetti Sauce, Audrey Jane’s Garlic Marinara, and Spinelli’s Marinara Magnifico. Then we recruited family members to sit down and taste them.
How to judge pasta sauce
We precooked batches of pasta: chewy penne and my new favorite long pasta — hollow-centered bucatini. Bowls of sauce were heated; my house smelled like an Italian trattoria.
We tasted each for texture, overall sweetness, herbs, spice and overall yumminess, rinsed the palate and moved on to the next sauce.
It wasn’t a scientific or blind tasting, but the experience was a revelation. Spaghetti sauce covers a spectrum of tastes, and the price per jar can vary significantly. Even at their most expensive, bottled sauces make a more affordable dinner than dining out in Boulder.
All four are family-inspired pasta sauces in big glass jars and include tomatoes as a major ingredient, but the similarity ends there. Some tasted savory and slow simmered. At least one tasted overcooked and canned.
As we tasted, we read the labels. They were similar in terms of calories, fat and sodium, but we noticed that Pasta Jay’s sauce contains anchovy and sugar, and Blue Parrot’s ingredient list includes pork.
Audrey Jane’s Garlic Marinara Pasta Sauce
The thick- and thin-crusted pies dished at Audrey Jane's Pizza Garage, 2675 13th St. in Boulder, have been hugely popular since it opened in 2015.
We all liked Audrey Jane’s pasta sauce and appreciated the taste of high-quality ingredients like crushed tomatoes to red chile. The thick, clingy sauce was perfect for penne. It offered a great natural roasted garlic kick and a pleasant olive oil taste. One taster thought it would be better on pizza, which makes some sense given that a pizzeria produces it.
Also available are Audrey Jane’s Vodka Sauce and Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce.
Spinelli’s Marinara Magnifico Pasta Sauce
Our consensus favorite sauce in the tasting, Spinelli’s sauce was born at Spinelli's Market, an Italian family enterprise at 4621 E 23rd Ave. in Denver.
This zingy marinara was far chunkier and fully embraced the bucatini. The garlic-forward (but well-balanced) flavor showed off the high-quality tomatoes, fresh herbs and extra virgin olive oil.
Also available: Spinelli’s Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce, Puttanesca Perfecto Sauce, Tomato Vodka Virtuoso Sauce and Roasted Garlic Fra Diavolo Sauce.
Pasta Jay’s Classic Marinara
This is the sauce that has been served at Pasta Jay’s Restaurant since it opened at 1001 Pearl St. in Boulder in 1988. Pasta Jay’s is a relatively thin, salty, un-chunky sauce with a strong hint of garlic, some herbal notes from basil and oregano and a minimal amount of red chile heat. This sauce didn’t cling well to the pasta. One taster suggested it would be better as a dip for garlic bread.
Also available: Pasta Jay’s Creamy Tomato Sauce and Tomato Basil Sauce.
Blue Parrot Original Spaghetti Sauce
This sauce was served at Louisville’s Blue Parrot Restaurant from 1919 until it closed in 2017. However, many locals of a certain generation first encountered Blue Parrot as the primary tomato sauce of the Boulder Valley School District.
One of our pasta sauce testers attended Casey Middle School and Boulder High School. He noted:
“It tastes and smells exactly the same. I only remember this sauce being served in school as a dip for bread cheese sticks.”
We noticed the strong flavor of dried parsley and its ketchup-y consistency and sweetness. Blue Parrot sauce was not the first choice of any of the tasters. While I know that there’s no accounting for taste, it mystifies me why the sauce is still popular.
I’d happily use the sauces from Spinelli’s and Audrey Jane’s again, but here’s the truth: I’m most likely to grab a jar of a house-brand sauce (like Whole Foods 365), or a can of good tomato puree and goose the flavor with garlic, onions, meats and peppers.
Soup soothes in Marshall Fire cookbook
After the Marshall Fire, Louisville’s Mara Quezaire made soup for displaced neighbors. Her efforts inspired the Front Range Soup Brigade, a group of volunteers who shared more than 4,000 servings of homemade soup.
The newly published Soup Brigade Cookbook collects those soup recipes along with photos and memories. Marshall Fire survivors can receive a free digital cookbook. Others are encouraged to donate $20 or more. Proceeds support the ongoing Marshall ROC Recovery Center food pantry.
To order: marshallroc.org/soup-brigade-cookbook
Local Food News: In-N-Out in Longmont
Ever wonder why eateries come and go so rapidly in Boulder County? According to Restaurant Furniture magazine, Colorado is the third most expensive state to open a restaurant, exceeded only by California and New York, based on permit and licensing costs, taxes, rent and wages.
JP Cuisine has closed at 1631 Pace St., Longmont.
Quiero Arepas is open and dishing Venezuelan cuisine at Avanti Food & Beverage in Boulder.
With the 1STBANK Center set to be razed by the end of the year, chef Joe Mazzocco has closed the nearby Mama Lolita Mexican Restaurant. Also in Broomfield: Sushi-Rama closes March 8.
Coming attractions: California-born In-N-Out Burger has announced plans to build a restaurant on Ken Pratt Boulevard in Longmont.
The 32-year-old La Mariposa Restaurant & Margarita House reopens March 11 in Lyons after extensive renovations.
Flight Deck Grill at Vance Brand Airport in Longmont reopens April 1.
Send local food and restaurant news to: [email protected]
Words to Chew On: How to Eat Pasta
"Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner." — Screen legend and entrepreneur Sophia Loren
John Lehndorff is the grandson of Michael Mazzola, an Italian grocer and maker of fine sausage in Connecticut. John hosts Radio Nibbles and Kitchen Table Talk on KGNU. Podcasts: kgnu.org/category/radio-nibbles