Our Story

The story behind Lena's Italian Kitchen begins with our namesake, my maternal great grandmother Angelina Anna Zendali who everyone called Lena. Her family immigrated to the United States from the Lombardy region of Italy in 1890. She later married Louis Michael Mattioda (Geno) who immigrated from the Piemonte region (Torino) of Italy in 1916 before settling in the McAlester Oklahoma area and raising a family. She valued family above everything else and as is very often the case with Italian culture much of this family time centered around food. She has certainly passed her love for Italian cooking down through generations from her granddaughter (my mother) to me. I decided to open Lena's to share some of the amazing food I grew up with and showcase the techniques and dishes that have truly became a passion of mine! From our scratch made marinara sauce (no you can't have the recipe) to our handcrafted pizzas and sandwiches, we try our very best to carry on her legacy by sourcing the very best possible ingredients and making many dishes in the same traditional ways of the old country! We are excited to welcome you and hope that you have as much fun eating this food as we did making it!!