Forget the $8 bottles of sauce at Lombardi’s — L’asso, the Nolita spot we like to call the Notorious DOC, has started canning its homemade pizza sauce and selling mason jars of the smooth stuff for $5. Best part is, if you bring the jar back, they’ll give you a new one for just $4. Partner Greg Barris tells us it’s all part of a plan that will eventually see L’asso’s pesto sauce, walnut sauce, and reserve vinegar sold at local boutiques. But a word of warning: The red sauce (a supple mixture of San Marzan tomatoes, salt, oregano, olive oil, and tomato paste) is actually best used on pasta — Barris says he has to boil his mason jars for fifteen to twenty minutes in order to air-seal them, which changes the taste of the pizza sauce slightly. Of course, if you don’t cook at home, none of this matters to you — but you will be pleased to hear that L’asso is aggressively looking for a second location, possibly in Brooklyn.
