At Comella’s, “mess” is a specialty that started years ago. At the end of the day, the family didn’t know what to do with all the unused sauce, pasta, eggplant, and veal. An idea was born — a “mess’’ that would use up the leftovers. The dish grew in popularity, and messes are now made fresh and in more than two dozen versions. The “ultimate” mess is Uncle Butch’s Bomb — shells, lasagna, eggplant, chicken, veal, shrimp, meatball, and vegetables.

COMELLA’S RESTAURANT 1844 Centre Street, West Roxbury, 617-327-8600, and other locations, comellasrestaurants.com