Quality ingredients, time spent cooking, consistent tasting and a blend of Italian flavors make for a good marinara sauce, but one ingredient makes it great: love. That is the winning touch, according to Pedro Cipriano, executive chef at Mio Vicino Pasta and Pizzeria Cafe. The popular eatery in Saratoga just won Little Italy San Jose’s Boss of the Sauce competition.

“It takes about six hours to make sauce,” Cipriano said. “Every half hour, I taste the sauce. If it’s missing something, I add a bit more. At the competition, in the last minute, I added a little more oregano and had everybody taste it, and they said, ‘Oh, we have to win.’”