Man visiting all Old Spaghetti Factory locations finally ends the Canadian leg of his tour in Saskatoon

Every clip Andrew Mancini does an icebreaker activity, helium proudly shares the scripted reply of his life-long goal: visiting each 62 locations of the Old Spaghetti Factory edifice chain. 

This ambitious culinary travel has taken him crossed the United States, Canada, and adjacent to Japan.

In each of his visits to the 59 unsocial locations truthful far, Mancini ever orders the aforesaid repast that helium archetypal had arsenic a 10-year-old: spaghetti with marinara sauce.

"I thought I'd been to capable Old Spaghetti Factories that I had to treble down and proceed to bid what I had arsenic a 10-year-old," the soon-to-be alum of Stanford University successful California told As It Happens big Nil Köksal.

"Still to this time — and it kills each the managers — I'll alert retired to Toronto, 2,000 miles distant from San Francisco [and] thousands of miles to Japan, and inactive fundamentally bid disconnected the kids' menu."  

The Old Spaghetti Factory was founded successful 1969 by the precocious Guss and Sally Dussin successful Portland, Ore. Since then, the Italian-American-style franchise continues providing its signature three-course repast and charming, old-timey decor.

Mancini's 12-year-and-counting emotion matter with the Old Spaghetti Factory lone intensified arsenic helium grew up. His devotion centres astir fond household memories and creating caller amusive ones with friends.

Origins of this quest

At the property of 10, erstwhile his household decided to halt astatine an Old Spaghetti Factory during a abrogation successful confederate California, Mancini had his archetypal repast astatine the restaurant. It was emotion astatine archetypal bite. 

A period later, successful a abstracted trip, his parents took him connected different abrogation to Whistler, B.C., wherever they besides ended up astatine the section Old Spaghetti Factory. This 2nd clip around, Mancini noticed however each the chain's planetary spots were listed successful the menu's border. 

"So 10-year-old maine was capable to say, 'Hey, successful a one-month clip span, I've been to 2 benignant of geographically acold isolated locations,' and I could physically cheque disconnected the 2 I'd been to. I saw that determination were possibly 40 oregon 45 others… 10-year-old maine said, 'Hey I'm going to effort to sojourn them all.'"

Mancini, 22, says helium recognizes that it seems similar an unusual ambition, but that his parents encouraged him to prosecute his spaghetti-inspired question bucket list. 

"They benignant of laughed," helium said. "Some radical marque an effort to get each nationalist parkland oregon each authorities successful the U.S. oregon each large league shot stadium… and they said, 'Hey, if you privation to marque this your ain version, you know, spell for it.' And I don't deliberation they ever truly thought I'd marque it… but present we are."

Takeaways from his pasta-driven travels

Thanks to his passionateness for this edifice chain's pasta, Mancini has had a blast traveling to places helium mightiness ne'er person visited otherwise. The final Canadian determination from his Old Spaghetti Factory circuit helium had to transverse disconnected his database brought him to Saskatoon. He says the aforesaid repast is "surprisingly" accordant from the U.S. to Canada to Japan.

"Down to the pasta sauce, the ail food that comes with the bread, the spumoni that they springiness you for dessert — it's crazy, erstwhile you deliberation astir it, that 2 continents apart, they're inactive providing the aforesaid dishes. In Canada, I'll springiness it, that they service basil leaves connected apical of the pasta's marinara sauce, which they don't successful Japan oregon the U.S."

Restaurant managers crossed the United States person besides invited him to be the inauguration of caller locations. The latest was to Medford, Ore., successful precocious April, wherever helium adjacent met with the founders' son, Chris Dussin. But Mancini said he'd inactive beryllium a loyal lawsuit adjacent without the peculiar treatment. 

Esteban Martinez, the existent manager of the Old Spaghetti Factory successful Saskatoon, said his squad was "very excited" to invited this ace instrumentality and "talk astir however overmuch helium loves the spaghetti," peculiarly "his emotion of the marinara sauce."

Andrew Mancini has Italian-American roots, but erstwhile his relatives backmost successful Sicily perceive astir his endeavour, helium says they "roll their eyes and not remark connected whether oregon not this edifice is genuinely authentic Italian." 

When helium pitches the edifice to others, Mancini says he's often met with skepticism. But helium ever has a comeback ready: "Hey, remember, I'm a 4th Italian, truthful I person a small spot much quality to accidental this is bully Italian food."

With lone 3 locations near to sojourn (Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wa. and Spokane, Wa.), Mancini says helium has reflected connected astir completing his feat. 

"Everyone's been making a joke, 'What happens aft I scope the sixty-second? Is beingness adjacent worthy living?'" 

"But surely it's been amusive memories on the way, and they bash proceed to grow each year, truthful adjacent if I marque it to 62 by [this] year's end, hopefully adjacent twelvemonth oregon the twelvemonth after, they'll beryllium a caller Canadian oregon American metropolis to spell explore."