Our Story
Our Story
From Cinisi to the Bayou
A life in food, from the olive groves of Sicily to the fishing communities of Louisiana
Where It All Began
Sal Impastato grew up in Cinisi, Sicily, the son of Giuseppe "Pippino" and Marianna Impastato. From an early age he was immersed in the rhythms of a family that lived close to the land and even closer to the kitchen.
He learned to make fresh cheese from goat's milk, press olive oil from the family's groves, produce wine from their vineyards, and slow-simmer tomato sauce from tomatoes freshly picked from the garden.
His father Pippino and his brothers were well known throughout the region for their bottled tomato sauce, olive oil, wine and cheese. Long before Sal ever set foot in a professional kitchen, he understood something that most cooks spend a lifetime trying to learn.
"Great food begins long before it reaches the stove."
The American Dream
New Orleans, 1960
In 1960, at just 18 years of age, Sal left Cinisi behind, drawn to New Orleans by its blossoming culinary scene. He came to work with his uncle Joe Impastato at the Napoleon House, a legendary French Quarter landmark that the Impastato family had owned and operated since 1914.
It was here that Sal began his journey through some of the South's finest kitchens. He bartended at the Royal Orleans, worked alongside the late Chef Chris Karageorgiou in Dallas and at La Provence in Lacombe, Louisiana, cooked at Moran's and La Louisiane, and took his last job behind the bar at the famous Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street.
Every kitchen added something. Every city deepened his understanding of what food could be when tradition meets place.
Sal & Judy's Restaurant
Lacombe, Louisiana since 1974
In 1974, Sal opened Sal & Judy's Restaurant in Lacombe, Louisiana, a small fishing community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
What followed was something rarely achieved in the restaurant business: a menu so good, so consistent and so beloved that it has barely needed to change in over 50 years.
Motivated purely by his love of food and his customers, Sal built his menu around local Louisiana ingredients prepared fresh daily, blending Sicilian tradition with New Orleans inspiration to create something entirely his own. Creole Italian cuisine, done the way it was always meant to be done.
Loyal patrons have flocked to Sal & Judy's for more than 50 years, earning it the number one spot for Italian restaurants in the Greater New Orleans Area according to Zagat. The restaurant's success speaks for itself. And so does the food.
Sal's Cuisine
Bringing the table to you
In 1994, responding to the demands of customers who wanted to bring Sal's flavors home, Sal began bottling his pasta sauces and dressings.
The same philosophy that has driven every dish at Sal & Judy's for over five decades carries into every jar. All natural, premium quality ingredients at the best price, prepared with the same unmatched quality and consistency his restaurant has always been known for.
Today, Sal's Cuisine offers more than 20 original and completely unique products, ranking number one in specialty sales across the Gulf Coast. Each one is rooted in the recipes Sal carried with him from Cinisi and refined over a lifetime of cooking in Louisiana.
From our home in Lacombe to your kitchen table, there is really only one thing left to say about it.
It’s Good.