WiLDWOOD by-the-sea: Nostalgia & Recipe
Ravioli House an excerpt from the forthcoming book by Anita Hirsch
If you love ravioli or pasta, you must have eaten at the Ravioli House at Bennett and New Jersey Avenue. If you have never eaten there, you may have had their ravioli, because ravioli and pasta prepared at the Ravioli House are sold and distributed within a 150 mile radius of Wildwood.

Teresa and Antonio DeSanctis moved to Wildwood and opened the Ravioli House in 1970. Both immigrated from Italy to Philadelphia as teenagers and met when they worked at a suit factory in Philly. They married in 1961. In the summers, they visited with Antonio’s Aunt Esmeralda who made pasta in a store front of a building she owned at Bennett and New Jersey Avenue. Eighty year old Aunt Esmeralda taught Teresa how to make pasta and since Teresa always wanted to own a restaurant, she was a good student. The DeSanctis family moved to Wildwood and purchased the building from Esmeralda.

With hard work, they made a success of the business. Popular night club acts would stop by when appearing in Wildwood and taste the ravioli. Teresa and Antonio became good friends with Tug McGraw, Wayne Newton, Joe Pesci, Al Alberts, and Julius LaRosa. Photos of their guests are framed on the walls of the Ravioli House.

Teresa decided to open a pastry shop which meant more hard work but her children, Anna Marie and John helped her as well as her two grandchildren, Joseph and Arianna Alosi. They gave her the incentive she needed to learn to bake the many Italian pastries they sell. Now Teresa cares for her husband and works part time as a baker and as a hostess at the Ravioli House. Daughter Anna Marie Alosi-Jakel takes an active part in the business.

In the Ravioli House kitchen in the 1970s, left to right: Uncle Vince DeSanctis, Teresa and Tony DeSanctis	The original restaurant owned by Aunt Esmerelda in the 1960s (Note the building to the right above and below.) This is the original building to the right of the Ravioli House which was home to C.W. Saul Hay and Feed business located conveniently near the railroad track. (Notice the top of the building.) The building was torn down just a few months ago.
Painting of the Ravioli House the way it appears today.	Aunt Esmeralda and Teresa DeSanctis in front of the restaurant
Anna Marie Alosi-Jakel & Teresa Photo by MP Myers at the wedding of Steve & Anna Marie, April 14th, 2007	The Ravioli House Family