It’s sad when a beloved restaurant closes, and their dishes are just a fond memory. Perfect spaghetti sauces seem particularly memorable—and impossible to duplicate unless you know the secret of selecting and simmering ingredients. So it wasn’t really surprising that Pat and John were transported back 30 years by their first taste of “Mama Rose’s Spaghetti” at My Tomato Pie. The venerable Mama Rose’s Restaurant at Kensington and Olympic that they’d frequented in the 1960s moved up to Millersport Highway, then closed, but family members preserved the recipes and still cook from them here.

The spaghetti, served with two medium-sized meatballs ($9), was topped with the deep-flavored, medium-thick, perfectly balanced sauce that they recalled. I’d never had the pleasure of tasting the original, but had to agree that My Tomato Pie has top-notch sauce. It was served with a large, warm breadstick.

We had to try a specialty of the house, the fried green tomatoes ($7.75). I can see how this could become addictive, too, with the discs, which are slightly sour with a mild tomato taste, fried until crisp in a cornmeal coating. Two dipping sauces (roasted red pepper and ranch) and a side of field greens nicely set off the appetizer.

There are plenty of menu selections, ranging from soup, salads, wraps, pitas, panini, pasta, Italian dinners, and even gluten-free rice pasta. But in a place with “pie” in the name, we had pizza and its offshoots on our minds.

The small specialty Rebecca pizza ($10.75), made with roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, mozzarella and asiago was delicious. The carmelized onions were an unusual and wonderful addition. The crust was neither too thin nor too thick, and with a hand-stretched texture. The pizza could have served two for dinner.

A calzone ($8.50) started out on a crust the same size as the Rebecca, which was then folded in half to enclose a generous mixture of red sauce, bits of bacon and lumps of sausage, as well as melted cheese.

A chicken Florentine focaccia sandwich ($8.50) got extremely high marks, from its tender chicken breast, wilted spinach and melted cheese to its perfectly textured flattish focaccia. It was served with pasta salad or chips.

Mama Rose may be gone, but she’s still remembered fondly here. —Anne Neville

My Tomato Pie is open from 11 a. m. to 9 p. m. Monday through Thursday, from 11 a. m. to 10:30 p. m. Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 8 p. m. Sunday. It is handicapped-accessible.