What better way to spend a warm summer afternoon in NYC than sampling authentic Italian food in Little Italy? My daughter recently relocated to Manhattan for work and my visit was one of her first opportunities to play tourist. A friend had recommended the two hour food tour in Little Italy so on a pleasant Saturday afternoon we walked from her apartment in Gramercy Park to the historic Little Italy district. We meet our guide and fellow foodies on Mulberry Street near the painted mural of Lady Liberty.
Today, Little Italy comprises several blocks in the Lower East side, centered around Mulberry Street. In the early 20th century, this area was settled by some of the poorest Italian immigrants in the city and was controlled by the Mafia; once about 30 blocks, it has shrunk over time as Chinatown and Soho have expanded. Nonetheless, it is packed with open air restaurants, where waiters in aproned formal attire entice guests to examine menus, interspersed with specialty pasta, pizza, cheese and proscuitta shops; bakeries are in abundance and every corner has a food cart hawking the ‘best’ canollis or italian ice. And of course, souvenir shops with hats, aprons, t shirts, towels, tableclothes and every other good imaginable, emblazened with the Italian flag, line the streets. It’s easy to understand why Little Italy is referred to as the open air theme park of Italian immigration.
We embraced our inner tourist and enthusiastically set off with our guide for our first food stop, Alleva Dairy, billed as the oldest cheese shop in America. Established in 1892, Alleva is still family owned and operated, and sells freshly made mozzarela and ricotta cheeses as well as a variety of Italian imported cheeses and cured meats.
It was still early so we did not need to use our jump the line privileges. We entered the small as yet uncrowded shop and sampled a freshly made ping pong sized ball of Alleva’s signature mozzarella. The store sells over 4000 lb of mozzarella a week and ships all over the world!
Our second stop was Paresi Bakery, a 103 yr old establishment still in its original building. Noted for its proscuitta infused bread baked in brick ovens, Paresi prepares over 2000 lbs of dough daily. Urban legend has it that this bread was a particular favorite of Frank Sinatra who had it shipped weekly to places around the country where he was performing.
We made a short detour to tuck into Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Built in 1809, this church is actually now a minor basilica, and was the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, until supplanted by the grand newer catehdral bearing its name on 5th avenue. Still an active parish serving the local community, Old St. Patrick’s is the famed location for the baptism scene in the movie, The Godfather. Its adjacent walled graveyard was the location for a scene in the film, Mean Streets.
Pizza was next on our agenda, compliments of Lombardi’s, billed as America’s oldest pizzeria. The place was packed; thankfully our guide had called ahead and used her jump the line privilege to pick up several boxes of steamy, hot pizza. Unable to dine in the large multi-roomed restaurant with its signature red checkered tablecloths, we instead ate our pizza in a small park next door, finding seats here and there on wrought iron benches not occupied by parents watching their kids play. The pizza was thin crusted Neapolitan style, with or without pepperoni – good, but in my opinion, not quite as satisfying as thicker crust versions.
Much of Little Italy’s storied past deals with its reputation as a haven for organized crime. Powerful members of the Italian mafia have operated ‘business’ in Little Italy since the early 20th century. The infamous Gambino family was brought down by the FBI in the 1990’s; there is speculation that the Mafia still operates in the area, but today Little Italy is more tourist than black market destination. One of the most impressive buildings from its illicit heyday, Old Police Headquarters, now houses luxury condominiums.
The John Jovino firearms distributor with a huge pistol hanging from its sign, has been a prominent business in Little Italy since 1911. Billed as the oldest gunshop in America, it originally sold firearms and other protective equipment to the NYPD. Today, it sells more NYPD logoed tshirts and baseball caps than firearms and makes for an interesting diversion between food stops.
Dessert was the final tasting on our tour. The famed Ferrara Bakery and Cafe opened its doors in 1892 to serve the opera clientele. Today, it creates and imports an assortment of Italian desserts and is best know for its ricotta cheese and chocolate chip filled cannolis. Patrons can dine in or purchase confections from a kiosk on the street. Ferrara’s cannoli exceeded expectation – the filling was creamy and not overly sweet, the pastry was light with just the right amount of powdered sugar! We sampled one mini canolli on the street outside the bakery, thanked our guide and decided to further explore the area.
We meandered through the streets, now quite crowded, stopped for a glass of wine in an outdoor restaurant to people watch and ultimately made our way to Chinatown. We began seeing people walking, and carefully eating elaborately decorated ice cream in fish shaped cones. Following the backwards flow of people, we found Taiyaki NYC, a Japanese ice cream confectioner with a long line of people snaking out the door. We joined the line which actually moved efficiently, placed our order – my daughter fancied the unicorn themed vanilla cone complete with sprinklers and horn; I opted for a vanilla with chocolate drizzle and thin sprinkling of shaved chocolate. Less than five minutes later and $20 dollars poorer, we enjoyed our ice cream sculptures, but had to eat quickly given the 90 degree temperatures and the top heavy configuration (to many a customer’s dismay, we saw several mounds of ice cream littering the sidewalk).
Heading back toward Gramery Park, we admired the wrought iron balconies with connecting fire escapes that are a safety requirement on high rise buildings. What a great example of turning a necessary evil into an expression of art and beauty.
After a long day of walking, jostling crowds, and sampling food on the street in hot temperatures, we were ready for a meal in a quiet, air conditioned restaurant. Brendan’s Bar and Grille was just the place; aperol spritzs in hand, we toasted the conclusion of a fun day in Little Italy!
