We are pleased that you have chosen us to be a part of your evening, and are proud to be a part of the Stafford Community after 17 years (and counting!) at Palumbo’s Restaurant in Toms River, and prior to that, twenty years at Verdi’s Restaurant, and Pasquale’s Italian Restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  

“Le Sorelle” means “The Sisters”. The name is inspired by the portrait that hangs in the center of our dining room of Pasquale’s Grandfather, Pasquale De Risi, and his seven daughters (there were also seven boys…two sets of twins and a set of triplets!). Nonno De Risi had emigrated to the U.S. from Napoli through Ellis Island, and settled in Portland, Maine where all his children were born as he worked on the railroad connecting the U.S. and Canada. His wife died in childbirth with the last baby girl, and he decided it would be best to take his children back to Italy. He commemorated their departure with a photograph, which many years later, we had reproduced by a local artist into the lovely oil portrait you see before you. In later years, several of the children decided to return to Portland, and to Montreal, Canada, to open thriving businesses, and raise their own families. Pasquale’s mother stayed in Italy to raise her eleven children and care for her Father in his final years, while her twin sister became a typical American housewife! My Mother and her four sisters (The Savoia girls) were typical modern women of the forties and fifties, the generation that bore the baby-boomers after their husbands returned from the service. The De Risi sisters were warm, wonderful, wise, strong women, revered and respected by their extended families. And although my sisters and I lost our Mother at a very young age, our Savoia Aunties were (and still are) our amazing role models. All twelve of these wonderful women are inspirational… warm and secure in their Italian heritage, and proud to be Americans. It is our wish to honor them, and all the fabulous “sisters” who raised us and nurtured us, and contributed so greatly to the growth of this country. Remember, it was the women who ran the factories during the first and second World Wars, while simultaneously raising the children, and keeping the home fires burning! God Bless these “sisters”, and all they did to make us who we are today! 

“ All that we are, and all that we hope to become, we owe to those who went before.” 

Theresa, Pasquale & Anthony Boffice