Ramones Drummer Hopes to Snare Sauce Lovers at The Cheese Store

A few months ago he was in town to pick up a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, but Wednesday Marky Ramone was at The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills to introduce the West Coast to his marinara sauce.

Brooklyn’s Own Pasta Sauce, the multi-talented former Ramones drummer's concoction, is available online and in about 60 stores on the East Coast, and now Ramone is bringing it out West.

“I think the work I put into my sauce makes it special,” Ramone said. “When you’re not a chef, you try harder and you just keep at it until it’s really good.”

Ramone may not be a chef himself, but his grandfather was a chef at legendary New York hot spots the Copacabana and the 21 Club.

“I think it’s hereditary. My grandfather was a chef and I used to watch him cook all the time when I was a kid,” Ramone said. “Then when I moved out of my parents’ house, I just experimented and this is what I came up with.”

The sauce is vegetarian and gluten free, with imported Italian plum tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. “Drums not included,” the label states. Ten percent of proceeds go to the charity Autism Speaks.

“I’d like to expand some more with more sauces and give more to charity,” Ramone said, adding that Brooklyn's Own was ranked No. 2 in pasta sauces by The Wall Street Journal. “I was as surprised as anyone else that The Wall Street Journal picked it as No. 2. But if the suits like it, then you know it’s good.”

Norbert Wabnig, owner of The Cheese Store, contacted Ramone about selling his sauce in Beverly Hills not only because he loved the sauce but because he is a big fan of The Ramones and a musician himself. Before presenting his sauce to the public at Wabnig’s store, Ramone joined Wabnig in an impromptu jam session in the office above the store.

“That was quite a moment,” Wabnig said. “It was a wonderful experience, but most of the time I was concentrating on getting all the chords right so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself more than necessary.”

Ramone has his own radio show on SiriusXM Satellite Radio and tours the world playing music by The Ramones with his band, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.

“It’s very exciting, because there’s a whole new generation of Ramones fans and it’s all new to them and they love it,” Ramone said.

A 24 ounce jar of Brooklyn’s Own Pasta Sauce sells for $8 at , 419 N. Beverly Drive. It can also be ordered online at www.markyramone.com.

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