One experience I have had with restaurant food worth cloning come from a Mom n Pop sandwich shoppe/deli combo run by a very Nice Roman Catholic Eyetalian Lady from Noo Yawk city. She had meatballs so good they should be illegal. Took only one short lesson and she taught me everything she knew. So no need to go back there to eat anymore. The rest of her groceries was nothing to write home about. She migrated as a child and her Daddy used to eat the eyeballs out of lambs back in the old country. That sounds real appetizing huh? She has since closed up shop. The nice Lady is named Annie Mooney. She used em for making meatball sandwiches but reckon a person could use em for whutever purpose a meatball might be used. As I recall it went something like this:

"Annie Mooney's Noo Yawk Eyetalian Meatballs"

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
10-12 cloves fresh minced garlic or more (is impossible to get too much)
1 cup Progresso brand Eyetalian breadcrumbs..soaked in water
2 eggs
1 t. oregano
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesiam cheese
1/2 t. salt (*watch this close because how much you need is some dependent on how much salt the sausage has in it. Very easy to get too much especially figgering the sauce and cheese is likely salty too)
1 t. black pepper
3 16 oz. cans tomato sauce (use three different brands of sauce)
2 T. red wine or 2 t. sugar

Soak the bread crumbs in water for about 15 mins then drain and squeeze out some of the water...still want it pretty moist. Mix up everything except the sauce and the wine. Form into meatballs about 1 inch diameter. Add the wine to the sauce and bring to a simmer in a non-reactive pan. Add the meatballs, cover and simmer with a lid till done..about an hour. Check occasionally and if you get any grease floating on top of the sauce..dip it out with a spoon.

She served them as a sandwich on hoagy rolls..with meatballs down the middle covered with sauce. Fresh grated Mozzarella (sic) on top. Toasted up in the oven just a little. Bunch of napkins on the side. The reason for the three different brands of sauce was because she say one brand was too sweet..the other too salty etc. If you mix em up it supposed to give a mo well balanced flavor profile. If you dont have any wine sub out a t. or two of sugar. She claimed the wine or sugar cut the acid..but I don't see how since wine is acidic it can cut much acid. I just repeating it as I was tole. It do knock some of the sharp edges off the sauce.