What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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A lot goes into the dishes made at DeMarco's Italian Dining and Pizza. "Everything that we serve we make on a daily basis," said Victor DeMarco, the restaurant's owner and namesake. "There's nothing that's premade or comes packaged or frozen," Victor said. "All of our sauces… the marinara and Alfredo. All are made fresh right here in our kitchen." Victor prides himself on serving up only the freshest and most flavorful traditional Italian cuisine in the area. Victor and his crew are always looking to change up their offerings to keep customers coming back for more. "We are working on some new dishes with lasagna," he said. "We've had a lot of people wanting a meat lasagna. We have a spinach lasagna. We make every part of the lasagna from starch every day. The noodles are made from scratch. They start the old fashioned way with the flour volcano and the eggs and mixing it by hand. The cheeses we use are the best in the business we can find." Preparing lasagna each day is a time consuming task, but one on which Victor insists. "It takes two hours to make a lasagna," he explained. "We make it every day so they are fresh. Our lasagna is also vegetarian. There is no meat in it right now. Several dishes we have are vegetarian. Our eggplant Parmesan is vegetarian. It's made from scratch with fresh eggplant." All about the sauce For Victor, an authentic Italian meal starts with the sauce. He uses a traditional recipe for the red sauce at DeMarco's. "The marinara sauce is very basic and traditional," he said. "It's a simple, fast and light sauce. Every ingredient is fresh. We use fresh basil, not dried. The garlic is fresh and it's minced by our own hands, not powered. Other than that it's olive oil, tomatoes and salt. No preservatives. There are no artificial flavorings or enhancements. It's garden fresh." Marinara, a thinner tomato-based sauce, originated in the Naples area of Italy. Translated it means 'mariner.' "It's a sauce that was designed for when sailors came into port," he explained. "No one knew how long they would be there. It could be two days or two hours. They came up with a quick and light sauce that can go on pastas or lasagnas or anything. We even use the sauce on our pizzas." While dishes prepared with marinara sauce are always popular, white sauce dishes are traditional Italian favorites, too. featured dining guide story Advertorial Feature BY DAVE WOODS NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Demarco's Italian Dining and Pizza celebrates food, life and family Made fresh, from scratch 42 WHAT'S UP! APRIL 29-MAY 5, 2018