Nico Piña cooks every jar of his Roman-style tomato sauce by hand in San Diego, then hauls them to the Leucadia Sunday farmers market at Oak Crest Middle School.

Piña, owner and chef of Romolo & Remo, grew up in Rome before settling in San Diego. He started perfecting small batches of his family's recipes during COVID lockdowns, first giving jars to friends, then filling Instagram orders, and eventually setting up a booth at local farmers markets, San Diego Magazine reported on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

"These were sauces that I ate and made with my family growing up," Piña told the magazine. "We've been doing them for a lifetime."

The core line has four sauces, each sold in 24-ounce jars for $15: Romolo (spicy), Remo (mild), La Lupa spicy and La Lupa mild. All four are gluten-free, vegan and contain no added sugars, according to the brand's website. Every batch simmers for at least seven hours, and Piña handles all the cooking, jarring and labeling himself.

The labels nod to his dual roots.

Each jar features the façade of Rome's Colosseum blended with the silhouette of the Coronado Bridge, a visual shorthand for a chef who split his life between the two cities.

Beyond the four shelf-stable sauces, Piña brings items like traditional pesto to the farmers market. Those items contain no preservatives and have a short shelf life, though he occasionally supplies pesto to Home Ec in Kensington, according to San Diego Magazine.

Leucadia shoppers can find the booth Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. Romolo & Remo also appears at the La Jolla Sunday market and the Vista Saturday market.

For those who can't make a market, the sauces are stocked at San Diego-area retailers including Bodega Market in Oceanside and Always Hungry Grocery & Goods in Carlsbad. Online orders ship nationwide through romoloremo.com, with a two-jar minimum and free local pickup or $5 delivery in San Diego.

Piña told San Diego Magazine he wants Romolo & Remo to become the premier tomato sauce brand across San Diego, a goal that would mean scaling up production. For now, he cooks, jars and labels every bottle himself.