When I was in high school too many years ago, I worked for a local (regionally famous) restaurant in Western NY (Olean, NY to be exact) called the Castle. It was owned by an Italian family who owned an adjacent hotel and a couple of restaurants in the area, amongst other things.

They were famous for their Loretto Salad Dressing. The Castle is long gone, but someone is still selling the dressing in Olean area grocery stores.

I recently found a recipe for it that's pretty darn close to the real thing that I remember. Thought I'd share this interesting dressing recipe. When I worked on the salad table in the kitchen, one way we used to serve salads was to top it with Loretto, then add some Gorgonzola or blue cheese on top. Give this a shot...

You might find the amount of worcestshire might be too much... adjust for your taste. Also, add the optional cheese. I used a combo of Romano and Parmesan. I think it is required to be more authentic to what they made.

Loretto Salad Dressing

* 1 cup mayonnaise
* 1/2 cup tomato juice
* 1 tsp worcestshire sauce
* 2 dashes hot pepper sauce
* 1 small clove of garlic crushed (or garlic powder)
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Blend well.
3. Add Romano cheese if desired.