There are a number of Italian restaurants and bake shops in South Philadelphia, but Ralph’s Italian Restaurant, established in 1900, is among the most notable of them all. Ralph’s is the oldest Italian restaurant in the country. Over the last 120 years, it has gained a reputation and loyal following for classic Italian American dishes like spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs are made with a mix of ground beef and ground pork, which gives them a tender and velvety texture. Along with local customers, celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Taylor Swift have dined at this storied South Philly location. Insider’s Taryn Varricchio headed to Ralph’s to find out how the original family owners cook up the best spaghetti and meatballs in Philadelphia.
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America’s Oldest Italian Restaurant Makes The Best Meatballs In Philly | Legendary Eats
48 Comments
Looks good but the portions look small
The Italians in NYC says ciao!.
Meanwhile, in Sicily, there are close to zero restaurants that cook American Italian pasta dishes. Spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parmesan, or pasta in Alfredo sauce? 😂 Nope. You might find those in Northern Italian restaurants. Not in Sicily….
Great video. If I had been born into an Italian family that prided themselves on keeping their meals authentic, I'd be well over 200lbs…or if extremely lucky 300. I suspect the "real" Italian restaurants in the SE USA are limited to a handful.
Thank you for sharing this, one of my favorites 😋.. Stay inspired 😊
So the meatballs don't cook in the sauce?..Interesting.
Red gravy?
What the actual f….
I best meatballs are fully cooked in the gravy
Swedish meatballs are original meatballs and are different than this so-call meatballs.
I'm a Sicilian and have been making meatballs utilizing my grandmother's recipes. I change my meatball recipe up every so often just to have a change… Sometimes I use beef and pork and other times I use beef and veal. At times I fry them and other times I bake them at a high heat. No matter what I do like the change once in a while. Bottom line, these look really good and the next time I'm in Philly I must make my way for dinner at Ralphs.
7 seconds in and it's not authentic Italian.
There's nothing I love more than a good red sauce on pasta … just don't call it gravy. IT'S NOT GRAVY.
I like meatballs on pizza and gelato.
I also like fishballs, squid balls, pork balls, shrimp balls.
Good LORD that looks delicious!!!!!
Give me all beef meatballs or fuggedaboudit!
I wish you could deliver, I live in Illinois. or ship I would pay the shiping
What was the Oil he fried it in? Or did I just miss it?
I would be so mad if I went to a restaurant and they just ladled sauce on top of undressed pasta. I would tell them to take it back and do it right. The sauce should be in the pan with the pasta to absorb some of the sauce. I know this place has been around for a while but it's very Americanized for Italian food.
Gravy is for turkey. 🦃
AS AN ITALIAN BORN IN BROOKLYN, WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE WRONG WAY.!!!!IF YOU WANT MEATLOAF,YOU BAKE IT. IF YOU WANT HAMBURGERS, YOU FRY THEM.IF YOU WANT MEATBALLS, JUST DROP THEM IN THE SAUCE. SLOWLY COOK,AND THEY WILL COME OUT SOFTER THAN SOFT.HALF PORK.HALF BEEF.OLD HARD ITALIAN BREAD GRATED.FRESH PARSLEY, GARLIC,SALT,PEPPER,LOCOTELLI GRATED CHEESE,THE EGGS. DON'T FORGET THE HOT SAUGAGES AND THE BROSOLES.NOT BAKING,FRYING AND SLICE WHITE AMERICAN BREAD.
This must be a two stage cooking process. I've tried and cant get large meatballs to cook thouroughly in the pan without over-searing the outside. I get them just right and then pop them in an oven. I probe them to check the exact temp that I want them. My recipe has always been ground beef and jimmy dean sausage meat. Its amazing. Just to verify, his recipe is 100 percent authentic. My grandmother (from Avelino) used milky bread as well. And dont skimp on the imported grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh herbs.
The commentator forgot an important ingredient ….EGGS… To bind it all together. The chef did add 2 of them (if you notice them in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients)
I love that meatball spaghetti are nowhere to be found in Italy.
Gravy is brown, tomato sauce is red. In Northern Italy the make a lot of gravy dishes which are brown. Somewhere people became confused and called tomato sauce gravy. Those are called Wonder Bread Italians.
3:34 “to the loyal locals” and there’s some dude in a Dak Prescott shirsey lmao
Nice vedeo very interisting ❤
I grew up on spaghetti and meatballs.
I'm going to that restaurant when I go back to Philadelphia in two weeks
What the f@ck is "red gravy"???
edit: I just noticed the word "Italian" in the title. Which means I'm way off base, I have no idea what the other oldest "Italian" restaurants are (still bet it's from before 1900 though). But I wrote it with loving snark, so I can't get rid of it. I won't get rid of it. I'd rather you judge me.
1900?? How about 1681.
45 minutes north is the King George II Inn — probably America's oldest restaurant and continually operating business.
I grew up a town over and worked there. The place is sweet. And maybe there is an older place, I've read of several that are somewhat close.
But 1900? 1900. What kind of "Voted #1 Slice" bullshit sticker on the window of the local strip mall pizza joint is that shit?
1900. I live in Alaska now and there are buildings older than 1900. The Alaska Commercial Company, which operates grocery stores in remote villages? Founded 1867.
1900. Laugh out loud.
Honestly, the meatballs do look delicious but I’m sorry they’re probably not as good as mine. I’m Sicilian n my family is from Palermo and we make the best meatballs in the world!!!! 😇❤️
That's very similar to how we have made our meatballs for three generations. My family came from Bisacquino Sicily.
But that's not Italian lol ! Marco polo travel to China and took it back to Italy…
i would love to eat there
How do you caramelize garlic without burning it ?
And what are the exact ingredients
I have used pork with beef before but this time I used just beef.
Used my own crumbed white bread soaked in little bit of milk instead of parmesan or Romano cheese I used a some ricotta cheese. Not too much ricotta
Used some dry garlic, and parsley.
I did fry neatballs this time whereas I would normally brown them in the oven. I used a vegetable oil for frying cos I think olive oil is too heavy for frying.
These were the best meatballs I have ever made. And i have tried many other reciped before.
Would love to go there!! Yes wet bread NOT dry breadcrumbs!
In 1960 the corner grocery owner told me to put 1/2 beef and 1/2 pork to make meatballs. Back in New Orleans the way he told me, I thought I was the only one on earth who didn't know this. Haha. Now some YouTube videos about making meatballs indicates that this is a family secret. Haha!
Are spaghetti and meatballs Italian?
It broke my heart to discover that no, they’re not. If you’re in Italy and you manage to find a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, it is likely only there to cater to American tourists. The traditional spaghetti and meatballs dinner is a creation of the American household and has no actual roots in Italian culture.
If only the pasta was finished in a pan with the sauce but I get that they are trying to get a ton of these out of the kitchen and to the tables.
These restaurant videos are so funny😂 when you've worked in restaurants your whole life you know what's going on. Very rarely do the owners even show up. And it's not to work in the kitchen or make anything. The dishwashers and the prep cooks make those meatballs.
Lmao that meatball was dry af
Red gravy. Hnnng
I was there recently, and the food was good altogether, but the meatballs themselves were nothing special. They actually reminded me of Chef Boyardee meatballs. You'll know what I mean if you're familiar with the chef Boyardee stuff.
I loved my mothers spaghetti and meatballs..That is until I saw this video . Oh vey
What’s a nice Jewish boy supposed to do….
American portion always big 😂
# THE BEST MEATBALL DINNER
Red gravy, love it. I made the meatballs for the pizza place I worked, I loved it and was good at it and nobody else wanted to do it! Ate a lot of meatball sandwiches.