Left to Right — Michael, AJ and Gus Sarno, Owners of Isgro’s
Interview with A.J. Sarno, 4th Generation Owner/Pastry Chef of Isgro Pastries
About Isgro’s: Philadelphia’s legendary Italian Market bakery fueled by over a century of baking obsession, repetition, and precision that yields award-winning cannoli, cookies, cakes, and classic Italian sweets. Handmade in small batches and family-run since 1904.
StrEATS: You grew up in the business. Did you always know you wanted to follow in the family footsteps?
AJ: My brother Michael and I very much grew up in the business, but he had more of a passion for it out of the gate, so he pursued it as his career early on. He is classically trained, went to school here iThe Restaurant School, now Walnut Hill College. I took a more round about way. I wanted to pursue other things when I was younger, ie science, so I got an undergrad then Master’s in biology. I wanted to pursue being a doctor or Physicians Assistant, but while I was figuring that out I started working at the bakery because my parents weren’t having me sit at home not doing anything. I started learning recipes from my father, and began to take a real liking to it. That was almost ten years ago and I haven’t looked back since.
StrEATs: You’ve innovated on some of your family’s longstanding recipes from what we hear. What inspires your work/approach?
AJ: Most of the recipes that we are famous for are original to my great grandfather–cannoli, rum cake, and Ba-ba rum, just to name a few. The classics we don’t ever change; we maintain the quality that people have been accustomed to over 119 years. My father most notably was great with creating our ricotta cookie recipe; it has become our biggest cookie seller and has won Best of Philly for cookie a few times. He also developed the Peach (pesca con crema) which is now a staple here at Isgro’s. My brother came up with the idea for a cannoli chip and dip, which was a way to enjoy the cannoli as fresh as possible, without having the very finite timetable to enjoy a fresh filled cannoli. Our inspiration is derived from the incessant necessity to maintain the level of quality that we’re known for. We don’t do anything too too extravagant, we would rather do something somewhat simple, but make it exceptionally well.
StrEATs: What is your favorite thing (or things) about what you do?
AJ: I love working with the group of people we have here, most of whom have been working for my family for longer than I have been alive. Everyone here has a commitment to that same level of quality–it can be really inspiring at times. Also the fact that this is my families legacy of 119 years, and that there are three generations before me, drives me.
StrEATs: What’s next for you and the business?
We are very fortunate, as the business is continually growing, with new avenues to get Isgro’s product on more people’s plates! We have some new exciting things on the horizon. One area we are working on is growing the shipping end of the business, being able to ship our cannoli’s nation wide, which is my father’s dream!
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