You really can't go wrong with those choices. What did you decide?

Rao's is such a dilemma for me. It's good. It costs twice as much as other good jarred sauces. But twice the cost is still a cheap meal. The common sense half of me fights with the frugal upbringing side of me every time I stand in the Italian aisle of the grocery store starting at the sauces.

Yet, I've paid for restaurant meals for two that could have bought me a lifetime supply of Rao's. I don't like to think about it.

Yep! Along with Alternate Day Fasting. Down 30 lbs so far!

For sure. I make a good Bolognese, but haven't mastered marinara, so it will be my go to from now on! I used Dreamfield's pasta.

Unfortunately I waited until about 6 to order food. My 2 favorite places had waits that were way over an hour. Finally I decided on a place that I hadnt tried in years because they were showing 40 minute wait but of course once i actually placed the order the time jumped to 60 minutes. I got to the restaurant and had to wait an additional 20 minutes beyond the hour. I get that they are small and it was a holiday but bring in a couple more people. I ordered carnitas and they were dry. Rice and beans were good but all in all a disappointment. :(

Rao’s marinara at Safeway is like $6.99-8.99 a jar of 24-oz
the Costco price is like $10.89 for a 2-pack of 28-Oz jars
the other Italian marinara sauce jars don’t have such a big discrepancy on cost. I think Rao’s has a higher retail to offset the warehouse chain discount AND promotions as well as the grocery chain promos. It’s definitely best to only buy on sale as opposed to any full price retail.

Ugh sorry. Why don’t you order tonight from your preferred place? My treat. I’ll ship the $18.75 to you by PayPal because I’ve not yet set up my Venmo and $15 is still there from my last poker winnings (75 big blinds although we do a lot of straddles)

Lol
That is very sweet of you to offer but I am ok...really. We all have food disappointments sometimes! My fault for not ordering earlier.
Thank you so much for the offer, gaobest. You can buy me lunch the next time I am in SF!
Venmo is easy---get your $$$ out of there!

I've only ever bought Rao's since it started coming out in NY metro area in the 1990s.

You probably should try some others then! There are certainly some bad ones, and really bad ones out there, but some of the smaller label brands are pretty good, and they tend to be about half the price. But I agree Rao's is a good sauce. I tried the Rao's pizza sauce once and liked it as well. The only other one I've found that I really love is a local Chicago brand. Gaobest's comment about buying Rao's when it's on sale makes sense to me, and kind of gives me a concrete rule - buy it if it's on sale, otherwise go with another good brand. Honestly, we don't buy a lot of jarred sauce, as I like to do homemade. But we probably have it once a month, so I'll stock up next time it's on sale.

Tonight - Shrimp risotto with leeks, parmesan, etc. Never know the full ingredient list until I get going. I don't like making risotto but my wife does. So I'll just suggest ingredients until she gets annoyed and orders me out of the kitchen :).

Tomorrow night we are trying a newer brewpub nearby - Hangar Two - owned by Tangled Roots brewery which is about 100 miles southwest of us. Haven't seen their beer in a store yet, so get to try that too!

BTW, the Stanley Tucci recipe for shrimp risotto, allegedly from the movie Big Night (which I found many years ago) is heavenly, though very labor intensive (peeling and deveining shrimp, making broth from the shells, etc.).

Also can't say I've mastered marinara however with the abundance of fresh tomatoes from the garden towards the end of the season (in RSW) I've been attempting it regularly, slowly getting the hang of it :)

fish tacos supper tonight

Have you eaten at Rao’s? I only heard about it in the past decade.

just googled this broth. Genius. I definitely get shrimp shells :-)

I didn't know about Tucci's recipe but I have done that with the shells and didn't think it was worth it. But I now only buy peeled and deveined shrimp. I actually think risotto is pretty easy. I usually do add shrimp or scallops. After that, it is like garbage can risotto with whatever i have...artichoke hearts, asparagus, roasted jarred peppers, sun dried tomato, frozen peas, etc.

Keto Pressure Cooker Dae Ji Bulgogi Korean Spicy Pork with Lettuce. I'm obsessed with Korean Spicy Pork.

yum. I love all Korean and especially Korean spicy pork and spicy pork belly. Swoon.

Well, I can't say that home made broth was the difference between delicious and yours. ;)