Supporters of Buonanotte in the wake of Pastagate are wearing their hearts on their sleeves- literally.

They are snapping up t-shirts backing the trendy Italian eatery following its run-in with the OQLF.

The black t-shirts say, "I heart Pasta" in French and the restaurant`s name underneath, with the red heart and the word pasta in big white script standing out.

"It's the new red square for the anglos," restaurant owner Massimo Lecas laughed.

Lecas said friends at t-shirt company Station 16 approached them with 100 of the t-shirts following the incident where an inspector with the Office Québécois de la langue française took the restaurant to task for having the words pasta and other Italian food such as calamari on their menu.

"They're 100% behind us, and the people are 100% behind us," Lecas told CJAD 800 News.

So much so, that all 100 t-shirts are gone, selling at 20 dollars each, with all profits going towards Sun Youth.

"And we're going to buy pasta with the money that we raise," Lecas said.

They had to order 300 more, and counting.

"The more they see it, the better it is. It could be a reminder that we have to be careful," Lecas said about Quebec's language watchdog.

"It's too easy to just blame it, 'Oh, let's put it under the carpet and just blame it on a young, overzealous inspector.' It's not the case, we know that."

Photo of Massimo Lecas: Shuyee Lee