Joe "Pepe" Daniele said he was 8 or 9 years old when he started making Italian sausage with his late grandmother Catherine. He combined that family tradition with mentorship by the late butcher John Manderino to open Pepino's Italian Restaurant a year after graduating from Purdue University Calumet in Hammond with a management degree.

"We still have the original stuffer that we used to use for sausages. A lot of people have given me their old stuffers," said Daniele, who owns Pepino's. "I just use the pork shoulder. There's no filler. There's no trimming. That's unique and the way we cook it too. We charbroil it, which gives the outdoor barbecue taste."