KIRKWOOD, Mo. — If you want to be a broadcaster in this town, it used to really help if your name was Buck or Kelly.
If you want to be in the restaurant business, it would help if you were related to the families.
The families of Paul Manno, John Mineo, Frank and Carmello Gabriel and Joe San Fillippo have been a major force in the St. Louis restaurant scene.
Let me introduce you to Paul Buzzetta. They are all related, and Buzzetta has built quite a restaurant in Kirkwood called Sapore Italian Café.
Everything they do is awesome. The red sauce, the pastas, the seafood - all of it is just out of sight. Paul learned his craft from his father, Benedetto, who spent 45 years in the business. They work side by side every day. Paul did go to the culinary school at Forest Park, but he got his Master's from his father.
Like Manno’s, it’s an uneventful looking strip mall in Kirkwood. But there is nothing uneventful about this dining experience.