Pete Romano Jr. in 2006 created a mission statement for his business, and really his life: “I’m going to commit myself to tell the entire world that my grandpa, Nazzareno Romano, created the world’s first stromboli sandwich,” he said. “That’s been the obsession in my life.”
That feat dates more than 75 years ago to when the stonemason turned restaurateur riffed on the traditional panino imbottito, or stuffed sandwich. A timeline on romanostromboli.com starts the national fame in 1997 “when President Clinton’s Secret Service grabbed strombolis for Air Force One, followed by Jerry Lewis pulling up in his limo.”
